It's Not A Perfect Universe
by H.J. Glory
Summary: Betrayal pride and pain wedged them apart. Years have passed since Grace has left. Now with a different life Grace returns home to patch up old wounds that have plagued her all along. But after a run in with Adam, Grace discovers it may be too late. DONE
1. Prologue

**Story Title: It's Not a Perfect Universe  
Rating:** **M  
Disclaimer: **'Nough said  
**Summary: **Betrayal, pride and pain wedged them apart. Years have passed since Luke and Grace have crossed paths. Now, with different lives, Grace returns home to patch up old wounds that have plagued her all along. After a run-in with Adam, Grace discovers it may be far too late to undo the damage from the past.

**

* * *

Prologue – _It's Not The First, Won't Be The Last, Honest Mistake…_**

**June 12th, 2006**

Grace felt the butterflies swirling in her stomach. They always started fluttering when she was this close to him. He was the root of it all. Everything about him was perfect; his embrace, his heart, his lips, his brain, even his paranoia and fear was perfectly crafted. The way he held himself with his head high and his true, unyielding determination was noble and steadfast. His honor, Grace discovered as he pulled away from her breathlessly, was also perfect.

"Wait, stop," Luke gasped out as he held himself above her.

Of all the times to stop an advancing make out session, Luke had to pick the first time she wasn't terrified to give herself to him. Grace stared up at him, trying to discern from his face what it was that had stalled him, as they both lay pressed to each other on Grace's bed with barely more than undergarments on.

"Easy there Rocket boy," Grace tried to make light of the moment. "What's wrong?"

Luke shook his head. "Nothing…nothing I just," He swallowed hard. "Are you-,"

"For a genius you can't read signals very well, you know," Grace smirked before pulling his head back down to hers so she could kiss him again.

"Grace," Luke pulled away again.

Grace despised the space separating them, keeping them apart. "What's the deal, Geek, you don't want to do this?" She asked.

Luke shook his head, "No, it's not that-,"

"What then? Nervous? Cause I gotta tell ya," Grace turned her head and glanced towards Luke's hips, which were pressed into her own, "it sure doesn't feel that way," She offered a small smile when Luke blushed.

"No, Grace, it's not that, it's just…" Luke paused for a moment. "Are you sure…this is what you want to do? I mean-I mean," He cut her off as she opened her mouth to speak. "This isn't…you know…for any other reason than because it's time for us to you know, go there, is it?"

"Was that English?" Grace asked, amused. Luke was having trouble concentrating, let alone speaking, as he felt Grace's hands absently through his hair at the base of his neck and down his lower back.

"You're not trying to do something-anything, to get your mind free or so you don't have to talk about things are you?" Luke asked.

Grace frowned. "I know I avoid things, geek, but I thought you knew better than to think I'd do the do with you just to avoid talking about the booze Queen," She told him.

Luke frowned as well. "I wasn't trying to insult you…I just…" He made sure to keep her eyes locked with his. "Grace, I love you," He said.

Grace stared at him. She seemed paralyzed. She nodded stiffly. "I know…" She whispered as she swallowed hard. Luke watched her. She wanted to say more, he could tell.

"Grace-,"

"Shut up," Grace breathed.

"What?" Luke asked back.

"Shut up and kiss me, geek," Grace pulled him back down to her again. Luke didn't fight back this time. Instead, he gave in.

* * *

"Luke?" Grace asked quietly nearly an hour later as she and Luke lay clinging close to each other under the covers of her bed in the darkness of her room. Grace was glad her parents were gone for the weekend. She listened to the thumping of his heart as she waited for his response. 

"Yeah?" He replied just as quietly.

"I um…" Her breathed hitched in her throat for a moment, "I was wrong…"

"About?" Luke asked.

"When I said I was never even going to fall in like with you," She told him.

Luke just smiled, turning his head down to look at her. "I knew that a long time ago," He told her.

"I needed to say it," Grace confessed. Luke kissed her forehead.

"Thank you," He smiled as they tried to nuzzle closer to each other.

**

* * *

3 weeks later**

"Mom…can I talk to you?" Luke asked as he numbly sat down on the couch next to his mom, facing her.

"That's what I'm here for," She smiled warmly at him.

Luke swallowed hard. "Mom…Grace is in trouble…"

Helen frowned. "What kind of trouble?" She asked.

Luke looked down at his hands as he wrung them together. He had sworn to keep her secret. He had pledged to protect her. Now, he'd discovered the true extent of her torture. He'd found the bruises when she hadn't shown up to dinner the previous week. Luke had gone to see how she was, and drop off some leftovers and had discovered the bruises and scrapes. She had threatened their relationship if he told a soul, even Joan. Her mother had come home earlier than she was supposed to and found them together. She had rushed Luke out, leaving him to hear Grace pleading with her mother not to hit her as he left. What else could he do? He had to tell his mother, despite the possibility of losing Grace. Eventually, she would be grateful for his help, wouldn't she?

"Her mom…um…" Luke felt his eyes burning as he stared down. Helen reached out and put a comforting hand on Luke's shoulder encouragingly. Before Luke could think better of it, he told her the whole story to a horrified Helen.

* * *

"What?" Grace demanded as someone knocked on her door. She was packing. Will had pulled some strings and for the time being until all the investigations and court trials were over, Grace would be staying with Adam and his dad. She looked up as Luke entered her room. "I told you I didn't want to speak to you," She kept packing, refusing to look at him after her first glance. 

"Grace-," Luke reached out for her.

Grace pushed his hand away and looked at him with watery eyes. "I trusted you," She angrily wiped a stray tear with the back of her hand. "How could you…" Grace pushed her lips together in frustration. She knew deep down Luke was right to force her to get help but she couldn't help feeling betrayed. Luke had sworn to keep her secret until she told him she'd had enough. Now she was left with the corrupt justice system that was going to lock up her mother and was still undecided if she was going to be allowed to live with her father. "I trusted you," She repeated, avoiding his eyes.

"Grace…please," He stepped towards her. He was shocked when, at first, she didn't fight him as he took her into his arms. "I'm sorry…I had to, you know I did," He rubbed her back as he fought his own tears away. Grace cried for a few minutes before she couldn't take it anymore. She pushed him away.

"I want you to leave," She said, not looking at him. She crossed her arms over herself and fought not to reach out and cling to him and tell him he was right and that she loved him but her stubbornness and her strict inner conflict with the fact that Luke blatantly broke her trust kept her from doing that.

"Grace…" Luke's voice shook.

"Get out!" Grace screamed at him.

Luke turned to leave, but stopped at her door. "You'll understand why I did this one day Grace…" He said. "I want you to know that when you do…I'll still be here, waiting for you…I love you Grace. I won't ever stop."

Grace watched Luke wipe his face as he left the room. She went to the window and watched him walk with his head bowed all the way down the front path and then down the street. It took Grace nearly an hour to recuperate her composure enough to finish packing before Adam arrived. That was the last time she spoke to Luke. Well, at least for a couple of years…

**

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A/N – The story title is derived from a Michael Tolcher song called "Perfect Universe." **

**It took me a while to figure out if I was actually going to post this or not, because I wasn't sure what I thought of it myself. I need character names for this story and for another story so if you review, could you please, please, please give me a few male and female name suggestions? Thanks! **


	2. Let It Sing Me Home

**Story Title: It's Not a Perfect Universe  
Rating:** **M  
Disclaimer: **'Nough said  
**A/N: **Sorry for any typos, feel free to let me know about them. See special note at the very bottom and join the lameness!

**

* * *

Chapter 1 – Let It Sing Me Home**

**August 17th, 2012, Friday  
**

"Any messages, Dal?" Grace asked Dalia, the office's secretary as she stopped at the woman's desk. Dalia Edmund was the only other person in the office-who wasn't an intern or the mailroom clerk-who was closest to Grace's age. She was always happy and smiling and had worked feverishly for 3 months when Grace first started working at the Magazine to become Grace's friend. Grace had pushed her away at first, but with persistence tens times the amount of even Joan well, Grace gave in. Dalia was a good friend now, years later. Grace was just coming back from lunch, dropping off her usual leftovers to Dalia.

"Nope," Dalia looked up at Grace from her desk. "But the intimidator wants to see you," She said.

Grace scrunched up her face and lowered her voice. "What did I do wrong?"

Dalia shrugged, "No clue."

"Miss Polk,"

Grace looked up to see her boss, Abigail "The intimidator" Austere, calling to Grace as she stood in the doorway of her office. Other writers and proofreaders looked up, looking back and forth between Grace and Abigail and offering sympathetic glances to Grace.

"In my office, now…" Abigail ordered, straightening up. "Please," She added for emphasis.

Grace gathered up the files she'd put down and headed towards Abigail's office without so much as a nervous flinch. Grace had been the only employee at the magazine who wasn't afraid of Abigail; which was one of the reasons Abigail had hired her without any formal training. Once in the office, with the door closed, Grace sat across from Abigail.

"How long have you worked for me?" Abigail asked. Abigail Austere was a stern boss. She didn't take much shit basically. She was in her early 50's and had spent 30 years working in the magazine business. She liked to tell war stories of staying up all night just to meet a deadline and compiling a magazine layout by hand instead of by computer after writing, double proofreading and fact checking her own stories. She always wore a small string of pearls around her neck that her husband John had given her when their youngest son, Earl, married his high school sweetheart nearly ten years ago. She smelled of the newest, best, most expensive perfumes, and she always wore power suits that had skirts, claiming she hated pants. There were deep wrinkles in her forehead from years of dedication and struggle. The corners of her lips, when she sat expressionless, turned down out of years of gravity mistaken for grouchiness like the face of an old bulldog.

"Uhm…just under four years," Grace replied, unsure where this was going. Grace had changed in the 6 years she'd been away from Arcadia. She'd grown up very quickly. Now she wore dress pants and button up blouses with shiny, flat shoes. She arrived at work on time and did all of her work instead of slacking. She recognized that it was time to buck up and do what was needed, and let go of childish phases. Of course, there was a reason for that. There was a reason for all of it. She hadn't been back to Arcadia since she'd left, shortly after the last time she spoke to Luke. She'd left and gone to Baltimore where she worked for two years as a diner waitress before scoring an interview with Abigail; she was given the job when she told Abigail she wasn't intimidated by her, she was intelligent and knew how to write, she needed the job more than anyone else sitting in the lobby and she offered to work for free for two weeks as a test run.

"Yes and in that time," Abigail jolted Grace back to reality, "How much vacation time have you taken?"

Grace racked her brain. "Uhm…well…4 days?" She asked, unsure.

"That's correct," Abigail informed her. "Now, from that information can you deduce what I'm going to order you to do?"

Grace raised an eyebrow. "Uhm…well, I suppose it would be to take…some time off?"

"That's correct," Abigail nodded.

"Am I…being fired?" Grace was thoroughly confused.

"Heaven's no," Abigail laughed now. "You are one of my top three writers, what with that book of yours just reaching number one on the bestseller list for how many weeks is it now?"

"Seven," Grace felt her cheeks heat up. "But, then why-,"

"In four years you've taken an average of one day off per year," Abigail closed a file and stood, causing Grace to stand as well.

"Well, yes, but-,"

"Ah-ah," Abigail stopped Grace from talking. "I want you take the month off. Paid vacation. As I understand you have one article that is being finished and going to print as of the end of the day and no future assignments yet. Therefore, after you leave today I do not want to see you back here until," Abigail looked at her desk calendar after sliding her reading glasses to her nose, "No earlier than September 10th. Is that clear?"

Grace stared at Abigail in disbelief. What was she supposed to do for an entire month with no work? She opened her mouth to protest, but Abigail shushed her.

"No arguments. This decision is final. That's all," Abigail sat back down to get back to work.

Grace lingered for a moment before leaving Abigail's office and heading for her own. Within a half an hour, she had finished her article on the latest science discovery that was rolling heads among the conservatives in Washington.

She was sitting at her desk, contemplating just what on Earth she was going to _do_ for a full month when Drake, the mailroom clerk who also happened to be a good friend of Grace's and Dalia's, stopped at her door.

"Knock, knock," He said as he brought a handful of different sized envelopes into her office. "So I heard you got reprimanded and sent on vay-cay for a month! Paid too! Nice work, my friend. Any tips on how I can score that?"

Drake was a 27-year-old college drop out whose night job consisted of playing at the hottest local clubs from NYC down to D.C. He was a lead singer and guitarist and he dressed the part, since he was only the mailroom clerk. He had an enormous crush on Dalia for three years now, but was too chicken to do anything about it.

"You want mine? We'll swap jobs for a month," Grace sighed as she took the packages; briefly scanning through who they were from.

Drake looked at her in shock. "How could you not want a paid month of vacation?" He asked incredulously.

"What am I going to do for a month?" Grace asked.

"You could go visit your home," Dalia said as she walked in with a fax for Grace.

Grace snorted. "I haven't been there in six years," She said.

"All the more reason to return," Drake pointed out.

"You can never go home again," Grace retorted.

"Oh don't start acting all smart," Drake crumpled up a piece of paper and tossed it at Grace, who ducked out of the way of it.

"Thomas Wolfe was wrong about that," Dalia said firmly.

"Well, even so, I can't just up and leave Stone for a month to go home and play the heal-old-wounds game," Grace spoke up as she began gathering her things into her leather bag.

"Bring him with you!" Dalia suggested.

"Can I get my mail sometime today?" One of the other writers called from outside Grace's office.

"Duty calls," Drake grinned. "Call me when you decide what you're doing, I want to know." He winked at Grace and left.

"So?" Dalia asked.

"So, what, D?" Grace slid her closed laptop into an empty compartment of her bag before zipping it shut, making sure she had everything.

"So, bring Stone with you," Dalia repeated, following Grace out of her office, which she locked, and then towards the hallway and elevators.

Grace snorted. "No way. It would traumatize him, more so then I already have."

"Don't you think he deserves to know the people in your life that are important to you?" Dalia asked as the elevator doors opened.

"He already does," She commented. Dalia crossed her arms. "They're not part of my life anymore, D."

"But they…or at least some of them deserve to be part of his, like, you know the ones that could be related to him," Dalia replied as the doors started to close.

"I'll call you later, D," Grace said just as the doors shut. She sighed as she dug her cell phone out of the depths of her bag and started to dial.

**

* * *

August 19th, 2012 Sunday  
**

"Are you _sure_ this is okay?" Grace asked as she stood in the living room with Chelsea, her next-door neighbor. Chelsea and Colin Thomas lived in the house directly next to Grace's. Grace had only moved there from her ratty apartment two years ago after finally saving up enough money to feel comfortable enough to buy the house. Chelsea and Colin were 35 and 37 respectively. Colin worked at the magazine Grace worked at and had told her about the house going up for sale. He was a restaurant reviewer and often traveled across the country and to other countries for the job. Chelsea had been an RN until she was 30 and her second child, her daughter Jade, was born. Chelsea and Colin's oldest child, Pierce, had just recently turned ten.

"Oh, please, it's only for a week," Chelsea said with a wave of her hand.

Grace nodded, still feeling guilty. She had left money for Chelsea during the week to take care of whatever needed to be taken care of, against Chelsea's objections.

"You have all the numbers you can reach me at. When I check in, I'll call and give you the hotel's number and my room number," Grace continued. She was nervous. She couldn't fathom why she was even returning. Maybe she was just a glutton for torture-a masochist at heart?

Chelsea nodded. She reached out and put her hands on Grace's shoulders, looking her in the eyes encouragingly, "You're going to be fine, Grace. Take a deep breath. It's always hard the first time."

Grace nodded, breathing deeply. She ran her hand over her eyes tiredly. She'd been up since Friday mulling over and planning what she was going to do. Chelsea walked to the doorway of the living room, out into the foyer and to the bottom of the steps.

"Hey you monsters, come down here for a minute!" She called up the steps. Within seconds, three sets of feet came pounding down the stairs as their owners giggled madly.

"Jade, Pierce, why don't you come with me in the kitchen and we'll get ready to make some cookies?" Chelsea suggested.

"What about Stone?" Jade asked as she followed her mother.

"He'll be along in a minute," Chelsea assured.

Once the others were out of sight, Grace approached Stone, who was standing at the bottom of the steps looking forlorn and confused. She had never left him for longer than half of a night before. Grace crouched in front of him when he sat down on the steps. His blue eyes shined at her and she felt her heart pounding as her guilt mounted.

"Hey, listen," She said as she took the 5-year-old's hands in her own. She smiled warmly at him. "I'm gonna be gone for just a couple of days, so you're going to stay here with Chelsea, okay?"

The boy's bottom lip immediately protruded and his eyes became glossy with tears. "I don't want to," He shook his head. Grace reached out a hand and brushed his short, scraggly blonde hair out of his face, leaving her hand on his cheek.

"I know, but it's only for a little while and you're going to have fun playing with Jade and Pierce and I'll be back before you know it," Grace forced a smile onto her face.

Stone looked at his mommy. He could tell he wasn't going to win this argument, so he nodded sullenly and reached out to hug Grace. Grace hugged him back tightly as he stood in front of her now.

"All you have to do if you want to talk to me is let Chelsea know, okay?" Grace asked. She felt him nod into her shoulder. "I promise I'll call you every night before you go to sleep. And look," Grace reached over to the duffle bag she'd packed him. "You'll have Bark here to keep you company too," She handed him his favorite stuffed puppy, which he readily clamped onto. Grace pushed his hair out of his face once more and kissed the side of his head. "Mommy has to go now, so you go have fun making cookies," Grace stood and shooed him off. She quickly wiped at her face as he trudged up the hall into the kitchen.

"See you later Grace!" Chelsea called when Stone reached the kitchen.

"Thanks again, Chelsea," Grace said as steadily as she could before turning and leaving the house. She walked down the steps and to the curb where she unlocked her car and climbed in. She hated cars, but she understood, now, their necessity. Still, she only used it when she had to. She drove to and from work and pretty much walked or took the bus everywhere else.

Grace sat still behind the wheel for nearly ten minutes before she finally turned the car on. She was already committed to going back, before she booked a hotel and called her father to let him know. She wiped the last of her silent tears away and looked to Chelsea's house one last time. Stone was in the front window, watching her. Grace forced one last smile and waved before blowing him a kiss; then she put the car into gear and pulled onto the road.

"God do I ever hope Thomas Wolfe was wrong…" She mumbled to herself as she tried to find a tolerable radio station.

_I fell by the wayside/I, fell on my knees/Cryin', why was I so hard to please/I stood at the crossroads/Took a…long look at me/Sometimes you don't know where you're from 'til you leave/And I've been out there searching/For a Place where I belong/And on my way I heard my song/Let it sing, me, home…Sun on my shoulders and the wind at my back/Bound and determined to get back on track/To where the heart is/Where It's been all along/Sometimes you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone…gone, gone, gone… And I've been out there searching/For a Place where I belong/And on my way I heard my song/Let it sing, me, home…Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah…Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah…Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Yeah… And I've been out there searching/For a Place where I belong/And on my way I heard my song/Let it sing, me, home…_

**

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A/N: And so the next chapter already, are you surprised? How was it? Interesting eh? Thanks to Michelle and also to butterfly Dancing for Jade and Chelsea respectively! Let me know what you thought and if I should continue or not. Thanks again. **

**Chapter title is from "Sing Me Home" by Tim McGraw. I suggest checking out any of the songs I use for my chapter titles, simply because I think they're awesome songs!**

**Thanks Tiff for popping this story's review cherry! Sorry, I forgot about the site thing! Sorry!**

**_

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NOTE: For those of you who want to be lame and join in cheesy fun goodness known as RPing our own season three-ish, go to my info page and email me! Yes we know it's lame, but dude you know it's fun! We're setup on greatest journal. I will supply you with a link to check it out if you're interested in being lame too!_**


	3. And Now You Want To Ask Me How

**Story Title: It's Not a Perfect Universe  
Rating:** **T - Changed  
Disclaimer: **'Nough said  
**A/N: **Sorry for any typos, feel free to let me know about them.

**

* * *

Chapter 2 – And Now You Want To Ask Me "How"**

**August 19th, 2012, Sunday (Evening)**

"Okay, you just have to sign on this line Miss Polk and this is your room key," The woman at the desk, Her nametag read Elsa, put the keycards on the counter next to the paper Grace was signing.

"Thanks," Grace replied stiffly as she put the pen down and took the keycards. She turned around and walked over to the elevators with her rolling suitcase in one hand and a duffle bag thrown over her shoulder. Grace felt rigid and robotic as she moved into the elevator and rode it to her floor where she stepped out and made a right up the hallway and trekked to room 465.

Once inside, Grace put her bags in the corner and dropped heavily onto her back at the end of the bed, keeping her legs bent and her feet on the floor. She covered her face with her hands and groaned at herself.

"What the hell am I doing here?" She asked herself aloud. Her stomach grumbled angrily back at her and Grace turned her head to look at the clock on the nightstand. Green numbers glowed back revealing the time; 6:30pm. When was the last time she'd eaten? Grace couldn't remember. With a deep sigh she forced herself up and grabbed the belongings she needed before heading back down into the lobby and out onto the street in search of food.

* * *

Arcadia hadn't changed much, Grace discovered as she walked along. As usual on a Sunday past 6pm, most of the shops Grace strode by were closed or closing until finally she spotted a café on the corner. This was new. Grace didn't remember the café ever being there. Nevertheless, a café meant food and coffee, two things that Grace needed desperately at the moment. 

"Just one?" The bubbly hostess queried as Grace approached. Grace did her best not to roll her eyes as she nodded and the hostess grabbed a menu and led Grace to the outside patio area. There were only three other tables out of the total of 10 that were occupied; two with couples and one with a group of what looked like four high school kids cramming for a test or project while downing cup after cup of caffeine-the liquid crack of choice for some if not most high school kids. Grace felt a brief pang of nostalgia for those times, cramming for one of their AP science classes in the Girardi garage with piles of junk food, and the coffee pot temporarily relocated to the garage for more efficient use. Those were the night they never got to sleep and barely studied as much as they wanted to but still managed to pull at least a C+ on the test the following day.

"Can I just say, I totally read your book!" The bubbly hostess interrupted Grace's thoughts as Grace sat into one of the seats at the table in front of her. The hostess, with the nametag reading Molly, smiled broadly, gushing. She had spoken loud enough to cause the other three tables to stop their conversations and look at Grace inquiringly as they were wondering who she was. Grace glanced around. Two of the high school kids seemed to don looks of recognition and they turned to whisper amongst themselves and a couple of the other patrons seemed to recognize her as well. Grace squirmed uncomfortably, trying to smile at the hostess.

"Uhm…thank you," Grace wasn't used to this. Sure she'd done a few book signings, but that was different; she had been prepared for that, she hadn't been caught off guard then.

"All of my friends have read it to! Oh they're just going to die when I tell them you were here!" The hostess stopped a passing waiter and took a piece of his order pad paper and an extra pen and thrust it under Grace's nose. "Would you sign this?" She asked eagerly.

"Uhm, sure," Grace took the paper and laid it down on the table before grabbing the pen. _Molly, thanks for the reads and the killer table. All the best, Grace Polk. _Grace did her best to do her rock star signature, which she'd honed at Stone's request when he found out she would be signing books. She handed the pen and paper back to Molly, who squealed in delight, almost jumping up and down.

"Thank you so much! You rock!" Molly cheered. "Camden will be right out to serve you! Thanks again!" Molly all but danced as she headed back to her post to seat some other guests.

It took Grace a minute or so to recover from her shock. She offered a few tight smiles and nods to the other customers who were trying to nonchalantly stare at her and failing miserably, before she finally opened her menu.

"Hey, I'm Camden, I'll be your man toy for this evening," The waiter, Camden, smiled broadly at his joke, probably knowing it was lame. He looked a few years younger then Grace; probably a college kid working to pay his way through. He looked like he belonged in California with his shaggy dirty blonde hair falling into his caramel colored eyes that contrasted against his deep brown tan. The sleeves of his white button down shirt were rolled up to his elbows and his black pants hung just a little low on his hips with a towel protruding out and hanging over the side of his apron, which held a handful of straws and a couple of order pads and pens.

"I've never waited on someone famous before so you'll have to forgive me if I offend you," He offered a wink. Obviously, Molly had already gushed to the whole restaurant that Grace was here, as if she was some huge Hollywood star and not just merely a magazine writer and published author. Grace looked at Camden blankly for a minute. "So what can I get you?" He continued, seeming to pick up on her weariness.

Grace shook her head and looked down at the menu in her hand. "Uh…I'll go for the biggest cappuccino you've got…and I don't know whatever your most popular salad is, surprise me," Grace shrugged. She probably wouldn't eat it anyway. She closed the menu and handed it to Camden who nodded and walked away to place the order.

Feeling uncomfortable under the stares and whispers, Grace reached into her leather knapsack and pulled out a yellow legal pad and a pen. She heard some of the whispers increase as she started writing and did her best to ignore them. Thankfully, for once, her phone rang and disrupted Grace's thoughts. She reached into the bowels of her bag and managed to retrieve the phone.

"Hello?" She replied after punching 'answer' with her thumb and stuffing it against her ear.

"Hi mommy!" Stone's voice echoed back through Grace's ear.

"Hey you," Grace felt herself smiling as she replied, despite the aching in her chest; right now she would have given almost anything to be in the same room with Stone so she could accept one of his infamous bear hugs. He would act like he was sneaking up on her, like a grizzly bear and then growl mightily as he jumped up and latched on; he would wrap his arms around Grace's neck and his legs around her waist and usually he roared like a lion, unsure what kind of growl a bear would make in this situation until Grace laughed so hard that she had to catch her breath.

"I miss you," Stone continued. "Are you coming home soon?"

"Well I miss you too," Grace confessed, "I'll be home before you know it, kiddo." Grace had to admit, it was strange to hear these things from herself, even after 5 years.

"Tomorrow?" Stone persisted. He wasn't used to being away from her more then 24 hours. He sounded worried, as if he thought Grace wasn't going to come home.

"No, not tomorrow, but soon, I promise," Grace assured him. "What are you guys doing?" She tried to change the subject.

"We made cookies and we ate bunches of 'em," Stone replied readily. "And now we gonna watch movies!" He cheered.

"Oh yeah?" Grace replied offering up a small laugh for Stone's sake, "I sure wish I could watch a movie and eat cookies."

"Me and you can mommy, when you come home," Stone suggested.

"Is that a promise? Because I'll be very sad if it's not," Grace smiled to herself.

"I promise!" Stone cheered.

"All right, I have to go now, you go watch that movie and go to sleep when Chelsea tells you to, okay?" Grace said.

"Okay mommy," Stone replied readily. Grace heard him yawn; Jade and Pierce must have had fun tiring him out for sure.

"Goodnight," Grace said, starting their usual nightly sayings.

"Sweet dreams," Stone yawned again.

"Sleep tight," Grace continued.

"And don't let the bed bugs bite!" Stone cheered back, laughing.

Grace laughed back for him. "I'll see you soon," She promised him one last time before they both hung up. Grace sighed as she slid the phone back into the abyss in her bag. She spotted Camden heading towards her with her order, so she put her notepad and pen away and thanked him when he put the salad and cappuccino down.

* * *

After guzzling down the huge cappuccino and picking at the Thai salad Camden had brought, Grace paid for her meal and left. She decided she would take a walk before heading back to the hotel. She wasn't going to go and meet with her father until the morning, after all. He was probably going to try and convince her to go and see her mother. 

Grace walked for half an hour before turning around and heading back to her hotel. She passed different sights and was swept back into memories; some good, some bad. She passed the movie theatre and remembered that horrible film festival she wound up at with Luke and of all people, Friedman. She smiled sadly to herself when she remembered Luke showing up without his shoes because he'd gone to look for her at the Anarchist meeting and wound up burning his shoes. She was walking past an old clothes store and was remembering the time she'd gotten Luke a leather jacket, wondering if he still had it laying around like art, when she plowed right into someone else.

Both Grace and the person started to apologize and that's when Grace froze, recognizing the voice easily. She stared at the person as he started gathering the things that had fallen from her bag.

"I'm so sorry, I should have been looking where I was-Grace?" Adam's voice was still meek and quiet when he spoke, despite his alarm at seeing Grace. He blinked a few extra times; probably thinking he was delirious as he stood. Grace climbed her way to her feet and slung her bag back over her shoulder, accepting the few items that Adam rigidly held out to her and putting them into her bag. She cleared her throat.

"Rove," She offered a slight, awkward nod. Of all the people she left behind in Arcadia, Adam had been the one she was most afraid of leaving. She'd been too angry with Luke when she left to worry about the repercussions of her actions and she'd been fairly confident that whatever weird hobbies Joan would pick up would keep her occupied as usual anyhow. Adam, however, was still dealing with the years of emotions surrounding him about his mom, and he was still trying to reconcile completely with Joan to at least be comfortable friends again-frequently pulling Grace in the middle. Grace had been terrified for a long time that Adam might hurt himself, like her mother had. She'd subscribed to the Arcadia newspaper even, just to peruse the obituaries, in case anything had happened. It dawned on her that she'd stopped reading them two or three years ago.

Adam stared at her now with his mouth open, trying to come up with something intelligible to say. "You…what…but when…" Was all that he had managed to say.

"Good job Rove, now all you need is the why and the how," Grace tried to pull off a smirk and to curb the awkward moment.

Adam reached a hand out and tapped Grace's shoulder; just to make sure she was real. He blinked a few more times as Grace bit the corner of her lip and chewed at it nervously. Before Grace could say anything else, Adam reached out and drew her to him. She didn't even have time to react to stop him. He hugged her tightly to himself and she was pretty sure she heard him sniffle.

"Wow, I abandon you and you welcome me back with a hug?" Grace tried to joke, "Talk about ironic. The Prodigal Grace returns."

"You've got a lot of explaining to do," Adam replied sternly, still holding on. Grace nodded against his shoulder.

"I know," She confessed. Adam finally released her and they stared at each other for a while. "Right now?" Grace finally asked.

Adam nodded. He reached out and grabbed her hand to keep her from bolting; he knew her too well still. "Come on, we'll go to my place." He turned and started walking. Grace wanted to protest but she just couldn't. She owed it to Adam. She owed it to a lot of people, in fact.

* * *

So Grace let Adam lead her down a familiar road. After a little while she followed him up the steps of his house. It felt the same as it always had. 

"Where's your dad?" Grace asked as she sat on the couch with her legs pulled up under her, facing Adam. He handed her a mug of coffee as he sat down at the other end of the small couch with her. He looked down at his mug for a minute, solemnly and then glanced at Grace after she took a sip of her own cup; three sugars and no cream, wow, Rove still did know her well.

"He, uh," Adam's breath hitched and he cleared his throat, looking down away from Grace, "He died," Adam's voice was a quick whisper before he put his mug to his lips and took a sip.

Grace stared at Adam in shock. She felt her eyes begin to burn; after all she had known Carl Rove for as long as she'd known Adam. Grace put her mug down on the table next to Adam's. "Rove, I'm-,"

"It's all right," Adam cut her off, fidgeting with his hands; clearly he was uncomfortable talking about this. He stood and went to the window, leaning against its frame and looking out with his arms crossed tightly against himself. He sighed. "He was in a wreck, two years ago. He was on his way into work, at night. Some kid in a stolen truck ran a red light when the cops were chasing him…hit him right at his door on the driver's side," Adam stared out the window bitterly. "Mr. Girardi came to tell me…they said the other guy was going so fast that…uhm…dad was dead before he could even realize what was happening basically," Adam cleared his throat again. "The other driver didn't even have a scratch."

Grace wiped at her face before Adam could turn around. "Adam," She used his first name, "I-I'm sorry…if I knew-,"

Adam shook his head, turning around to face her. "What ifs aren't a good way to live life," He cut her off. He walked around and sat back down at his end of the sofa. "So tell me what you've been doing for 6 years-besides magazine writing and book authoring?" He asked now. It was then that Grace noticed copies of the magazine she wrote for strewn across the table in a big messy pile, among which lay a copy of her book.

"Not much besides work," Grace cringed as she lied.

Adam knew better. He crossed his arms. "Don't make me go onto your book's homepage and leave messages about what a softy you really are and how you totally love country music even though you deny it," He threatened feebly.

Grace sucked in the corner of her bottom lip. She didn't want to lie to Adam but what if he told Luke or worse, Joan? After a sort stare down with Adam, Grace reached to her leather bag. She grabbed a little plastic photo holder and held it against her chest.

"I swear to you Rove, if you tell this to anyone…anyone at all…you're a dead man…" She said seriously.

Adam held his hands up innocently. "Feel free to maim me if I do," He swore.

Timidly, Grace held out the plastic flip photo holder. It was like the kind you find in a wallet. There were 6 pictures in it: one for every one of Stone's birthdays and one of Grace and Stone that Dalia had taken at last 4th of July's barbecue. Adam took the photos carefully and flipped through them. Grace watched his eyes widen, especially at the last picture. Stone, at 5 now, was the picture of Luke. He had the same eyes, the same dark sandy blond hair, and that curious inquisitive look that said 'I know more than any human should possibly know at my age, seriously.'

"Grace…" Adam was at a loss for words. He looked shocked, but mostly he looked hurt that Grace hadn't contacted him to tell him about this.

"He turned 5 in March," Grace said quietly. She let Adam do the calculation in his head silently. He turned his head up and looked at her, in surprise. Grace nodded, answering his unasked question. Adam looked back down at the picture of Grace and Stone.

"What's his name?" He asked Grace.

"Stone," Grace replied, waiting for a joke. Adam looked at her quizzically. She shrugged and offered a small smirk, "That's sure what he felt like coming out," She tried to lighten the situation.

"Grace," Adam looked her dead in the eyes. "You should really go and see Luke."

Grace inhaled deeply, pressing her lips together in thought. She shook her head. "No," She finally replied.

Adam looked at her, confused. "Grace, really. You really should go see him," Adam cleared his throat. Grace could tell there was something more to this, but she was feeling trapped. "At the least, he deserves to know-,"

"Okay, I've got an early day tomorrow, I have to go," Grace gathered her things and threw her bag over her shoulder. "It was great to see ya Rove, I promise I won't disappear from you again. Still got the same number here? I'll call, I swear-,"

"Grace, wait," Adam grabbed Grace's shoulder. Grace stopped and closed her eyes for a moment. "I won't tell anyone but…please just trust me…before you leave Arcadia…you should look Luke up-even for just a meeting over coffee. I know it'd mean the world to him. He still hates himself for turning your mom in for the abuse," Adam frowned as Grace looked at him now. "Even though we all know it was the right thing for him to do…" Adam continued.

Grace nodded. "I will think about it," She promised as Adam followed her onto the porch. Adam reached out and hugged her one last time.

"I'm going to hunt you down if you don't call or write this time…" He told her.

Grace nodded. "See you around, Rove," She said before heading down the steps and up the walkway.

Grace did tell the truth to Adam; she thought about looking Luke up all night while she couldn't sleep. She had even taken the phone book out and found his phone number and address. She had halfway dialed his number three times before hanging up, deciding it was too late at night. Finally, around some time early in the AM, Grace had fallen into a guilt ridden restless sleep with the phone and the phone book lying next to her head on the bed.

_I didn't come this far/For you to make this hard for me…/And now you want to ask me "how?"/It's like-How does your heart beat, and why do you breathe/How does your heart beat, and why do you breathe? Why did you come here/You weren't invited/You were on the outside-Stay on the outside/And now you want to ask me "why?"/It's like-How does your heartbeat and why do you cry/ How does your heart beat/And there are some thing that I'd like to figure out/There are some things that…I can do without/Like you and your letters that go on forever/You and the people that were never friends…/Never friends/Never friends/With all the things that you could be/You never could learn, how to be me/And now you want to ask me "how?"/It's like-how does your heart beat, and why do you breathe? How does your heart beat, and why do you breathe/ How do you breathe?_

**

* * *

A/N: Just some quick notes, I'm in a hurry at the current moment. I know a couple of people had trouble getting to this url yesterday, that wasn't me, sorry!**

The chapter title is from "How" By Lisa Loeb.  


** Responses: Tiff - **How'd the French test go?

**Trace (AKA, at least to me, Rove) -** Sorry for the irony ) Do you still like Stone? I like Stone. Anywhoo, update damn you!

**Michelle - **Thank you for the name! I'll keep it going until my muse gives out. I don't know if I'd call this a vacation persay, but, hey it might turn into one. )

**Sam - **Still early on and working out the kinks. Let me know if it starts going down hill. I'll need a heads-up.

**

* * *

My note from the previous chapter still stands - ****_For those of you who want to be lame and join in cheesy fun goodness known as RPing our own season three-ish, email me at glory12783 at yahoo dot com. Yes we know it's lame, but dude you know it's fun! We're setup on greatest journal. I will supply you with a link to check it out if you're interested in being lame too!_**


	4. Come Back To You

**Story Title: It's Not a Perfect Universe  
Rating:** **T  
Disclaimer: **'Nough said  
**A/N: **Sorry for any typos, feel free to let me know about them.

**

* * *

Chapter 3 – Come Back To You**

**August 20th, Monday, 6am**

Grace groaned slightly, covering her eyes from the rays of light protruded through the open curtains like daggers jabbing parts of her eyes through her eyelids. She would have stayed asleep if the phone next to her ear hadn't started ringing. Grace's head shot up off the pillow. She looked around, dazed and confused about her whereabouts for a second before her brain cleared itself of its cobwebs, and she remembered where she was. Quickly she stopped the painful noise reverberating through her head by answering the phone.

"Hello?" She mumbled, rubbing at her eyes to get the crust away from her lashes.

"Mommy…I had a bad dream…" Stone's voice came through the line sullen and jerky. He sniffled and Grace heard a whimper escape him.

She sat up in the bed now, pulling her knees up with her right arm as she rested her forehead down on her kneecaps. "What kind of dream kiddo?" She asked. The pangs of guilt readily nipped at her insides, like a person with a cut inside their mouth that they couldn't stop licking, thus sustaining their cut for longer than necessary. Grace welcomed the guilt. She felt like she deserved to be punished for returning to face these demons without Stone. She was lying. She would be lying later on in the day when she spoke to her father.

Stone described his dream through sobs. He had been lost in a forest and he was calling out for Grace, only she wasn't coming for him. Grace scrunched up her face and fought back tears as she listened to him crying while he recounted the harrowing tale, which eventually led to him being attacked by wildebeests who wanted Bark, his favorite stuffed puppy; only bark had thwarted the attack, sacrificing his left ear and his right back leg and an eyeball in the process of saving Stone.

"I'm sorry, baby, it's okay," Grace said groggily. "You're awake now. Everything's all right. Bark's okay isn't he?"

"Y-yes…" Stone sniffled.

"I'll tell you what," Grace compromised. She didn't want to be away from him anymore than he wanted to be away from her. "I'll do everything I have to here as quick as I can and I'll come back by Wednesday and you'll have me all to yourself. How's that?"

"Okay…" Stone said slowly. He sniffled once more.

"And, I'll bring you to get pancakes for dinner too," Grace suggested.

"Promise?" Stone brightened up at this idea.

"You betcha," Grace replied, glad he was recovering now that he was waking up more fully.

"Okay mommy," Stone agreed. "I'm s'posed to go eat cereal now."

"Okay. You tell everyone I said hi, okay?" Grace instructed.

"Sure mommy," Stone replied.

"And Stone?" Grace continued, "I love ya kiddo,"

"I know. I love you to mommy," Stone replied before hanging up. Grace listened to the dial tone for a few seconds before sliding the phone back down to its receiver. She wrapped both of her arms around her drawn up knees and rested her head sideways against her kneecaps, looking over out the nearby window. Talking to Stone only made her think of Luke more. Adam was right; Luke did deserve to know. Grace shuddered slightly. What if Luke had Stone taken away from her because of all the lying and never telling him about Stone? Could he even do that? Grace was pretty sure Luke had more money than her. She'd heard some of the writers talking about him a few months back when they were doing an article on Luke's current Leukemia research project. She had been afraid to read the article, knowing that there was a photo spread of Luke and his team hard at work in some science lab.

Grace knew it was only a matter of time before Adam cracked and told Joan or Helen about Stone. She felt sick to her stomach when she thought about what Joan's reaction would be. The last time she'd seen Joan had been at the bus station. It was pouring rain and both of them were soaked. Joan had done everything, including standing in front of the bus until a security guard removed her so the bus could drive away, to keep Grace in Arcadia. Joan had cried throughout the whole encounter, screaming angrily at Grace for running away.

Grace had kept her composure until Joan had jumped in front of the bus, nearly getting killed and sobbed that Grace was a chicken and if she was going to leave everyone behind then Grace would have to take Joan out to do so because she was leaving over Joan's dead body. Grace had wiped at her silent tears for the whole ride to Baltimore at the guilt. When Joan found out she had a nephew she didn't know about that was now five years old, she was going to go ballistic. Helen probably would too. Lord knows what Luke would do.

Grace sighed. She had to get moving. Her father would be at the Synagogue by 7am. Reluctantly, she rose from the bed and went about starting the hotel's coffee maker before picking out some clothes and then heading for the shower.

* * *

True to his usual schedule, Rabbi Polanski showed up at the Synagogue just a few minutes after 7am. Grace sat atop the steps in front of the entrance, waiting for him. She watched him fiddle with the keys as he started to ascend the stairs. He only got four or five steps up before he lifted his head and stopped in his tracks, staring at Grace in disbelief. 

Grace rose to her feet. "Dad," She spoke nervously. It was kind of hard to gauge his reaction when he was just standing there staring at her while barely blinking. Grace remembered that look. Last time he'd given her that look was when he returned home to see the police escorting her mother away. At first he just looked at Grace blankly. After everyone had left, however, he'd spent hours screaming at Grace for bringing other people into their business until it was almost sunrise. Grace had tried to explain that it wasn't her fault, if only to get him to stop, but that hadn't worked. The result? Grace had to pack, so she could go stay with Rove while the police sorted everything out. Grace decided that wasn't a good idea. She was 18 anyway, why did she have to stay with anyone? That's when she headed for the bus station, after she threw Luke out of her house.

"What are you doing here?" The Rabbi ascended the steps slowly, taking each one at a cautious pace like he really thought slow and steady would win the race. His reaction was a little less warm than Grace had expected, but she took it...well, gracefully. What, did she really expect him to just come running up and sweep her into his arms and tell her how wrong he was, how he'd failed her? No, Grace hadn't expected that; she just wished it could have been that way.

Grace took a deep breath. The hot, humid summer air made her lungs constrict slightly, or was that just the pain and guilt? "I came to see you," She finally spoke when he was face to face with her.

The rabbi raised an eyebrow. "What for?" He stepped past Grace and began unlocking the Synagogue doors. His questioning glance was cautious, but reserved.

"I'm not here grubbing for money if that's what you think," Grace furrowed her brow as she jostled and repositioned the bag on her shoulder, gripping her hand to the strap.

The rabbi offered a slight sideways nod of his head. "That's good. Good. I take it you're doing well on your own then?" He stepped aside and held the door open, nodding now to invite Grace in. Grace had learned to see through her father about the same time she figured out just what an alcoholic was. Still, she played along.

"Been writing for a magazine," Grace stepped through the open door and waited for her father to follow her. They started up the familiar hallway and towards his office. "Wrote a book that's been on the New York Time's Bestseller's list for almost 2 months." She knew her father wasn't really listening as he clambered behind his desk and sat down, rummaging mindlessly through some papers. Grace wondered why anyone would take advice from someone who was even more lost than she was.

"Mm-hmm, good, that's good Gracie," He nodded, looking at a specific pile of papers through the glasses positioned on the tip of his nose. Grace rolled her eyes and reached into her bag. Her fingertips played with the edge of the photo holder, flicking at it as she contemplated her next move. Before she really thought about the repercussions of her next action, Grace pulled the photo holder out of her bag and gave a glance at the first picture. It was taken in the hospital not long after Stone had been born. Grace underhanded the album towards her father like an old ratty tennis ball. The plastic container of pictures hit the pile of papers the rabbi was engrossed in and slid a few inches until it was on the edge of his desk. This caught his attention.

Rabbi Polanski didn't move at first. He simply averted his eyes to look at the picture. After staring at it for a good long minute, he turned just his eyes up to Grace in anticipation.

"That's Stone Adley Polk," Grace spoke easily. She was surprised at how easy the information came pouring out of her as her father sat motionless, soaking it up. "Born on March 3rd, 2007 after 56 hours of labor. 9 months and he looks nothing like me. He sounds nothing like me except, well, for some of the things that he says of course. He has my temper, you know the one you and mom cultured for so many years," Grace could feel her eyes begin to burn but the words just kept coming. The rabbi moved now, sitting back in his chair, absorbing this information.

"He hates peas but he can't get enough of radishes when you put them in front of him. When he was two he wouldn't go anywhere if it meant leaving Bark, his favorite stuffed animal behind. Luke doesn't know he even exists. Rove didn't even know until last night. No one in this town knew. He knows who all of you are, even if it's only from seeing pictures, so I figure hey why the hell not showcase off some pictures of him to you?" Grace was growing angry. Her father hadn't even picked up the pictures to look at them. "He's pretty much everything I'm not, and you know I'm pretty close to thanking God for that because I'm well aware that I'm whacked in the head, but then again you know that too don'tcha dad?"

Slowly, the rabbi reached out and picked up the pictures. He leafed through them gingerly before he ventured a glance at his daughter.

"Nothing to say? No anger? Hurt? No curiosity?" Grace raged on. "You want more? All right then. When he was 4, he got the flu so bad his temperature was 104 for a whole day, that's nearly fatal in case you didn't know. At 105, your brain cooks itself. Until now he hasn't spent more than 18 hours away from me and I honestly don't know what I'm doing here when you don't even care about what's just been revealed to you."

"I never said I don't care about this," The rabbi replied before tossing the pictures back to Grace. The bitterness was still there in his voice after all these years. "I am wondering, however, how you've managed to keep this a secret for so long, Gracie. Because if you think just coming back here and telling the world you have a son now is going to make everything better, well you're mighty mistaken child."

Grace looked down at Stone's big toothy 5-year-old grin. She closed her eyes for a moment and slipped the pictures back into her bag, shaking her head.

"You can blame me for mom all you want," She hitched her bag up onto her shoulder tighter. "I'm not the one who conned a congregation into believing you had the perfect little family," She walked for the door but stopped when she was halfway through. "And I sure as hell didn't force the alcohol down her throat…nor did I give myself those bruises," Grace flinched slightly, "Did you know she almost…" She shook her head and cut her words off. "I'm sorry to bother you."

"Gracie, come on now," He called after her but it was too late, Grace had already made it halfway up the hallway by the time he'd called out to her. She walked right out of the Synagogue and proceeded up the street, unsure where her next stop should be-she had blocked the world around her out, preventing her from hearing her father calling after her.

* * *

After walking for nearly thirty minutes Grace came upon a familiar diner and her stomach decided it was time for some breakfast. So she went into the diner and asked for the booth in the back corner since it was the hardest booth to see from nearly everywhere else in the diner. She was hoping to avoid all the attention she'd gotten at the café. After all who knows whom she could run into here? Grace wasn't sure she could handle another run in after Adam and her dad. 

"Here you are, Miss," The old waitress Grace remembered from when she and Luke would come in the diner at all hours in the early a-m to get coffee and ice cream after Grace knocked on his window and dragged him out, set a plate of food in front of Grace and refilled her coffee. Grace offered a thankful nod.

"Is there anything else you need?" The waitress asked.

"No, no I'm good," Grace assured, "Thank you."

"You just call if you need anything, Hon," The waitress said as she walked away to refill some other customers' coffee cups.

Grace began to dig in immediately. She was starving after only picking at food for two days. Her sunny-side up eggs were just runny enough to dunk her sandwich, made out of a slice of French toast with home fries stuffed inside it and folded in half, before taking a large enough bite to warrant some extra chewing than normal-followed by a nice chug of her coffee.

* * *

It wasn't long before Grace managed to give herself a stomachache. So with her newly found heartburn in place, she paid for her meal and left her tip before leaving. 

Grace looked at her watch. It was 8:15am; fast breakfast. Where was the next stop? Grace sure as hell wasn't going to go to her house where she knew her mother would be; not after the way her dad reacted. Grace sat down on the corner, on the edge of a rickety old bus stop bench to think about her next destination. She pulled out some gum from her bag as she contemplated.

"You're about to lose Luke's address, dear,"

Grace looked to her left and raised an eyebrow at the old lady sitting there on the bench with grocery bags filling up her lap. Grace looked around just to be sure the woman was talking to her.

"Excuse me, do I know you?" Grace questioned the odd woman who was smiling warmly at her.

The woman pointed a wrinkly outstretched finger at the edge of Grace's leather knapsack. Grace thought it looked kind of like the skin on a chicken before you cooked it, only less yellow. It looked, deceivingly, as if it would just peel right off if you pinched it and pulled but as soon as you got to a joint, boy did that skin stay put. Grace shook her thoughts free and followed the woman's hand. There was a piece of paper hanging just barely onto the corner of her bag, jerked out and almost lost probably when Grace reached in for her gum.

"You're about to lose Luke's address," The old woman repeated with a warm smile.

"Oh…oh!" Grace snatched the paper as a breeze flew through them. "Uh…thanks. Thank you," Grace nodded to the woman before staring down at the address scrawled on the scrap of paper. It was obvious to Grace as she looked at it that she'd written it while only half awake and agonizing over whether or not to call Luke.

Grace had in fact completed her call to Luke at least once. She closed her eyes, remembering his ragged voice when he'd answered the phone. Grace hadn't actually realized that she had dialed the full number until Luke had spoken.

_"Joan, I swear…if someone's not bleeding or dead…" Luke's tired voice came through the line husky and dry. She'd woken him up. Luke had trailed off when Grace had snapped to reality and realized what she'd done at which point she'd gasped, emitting a slight yelp._

_"Who is this?" Luke had then inquired. Grace tried to answer, she really did. But all of the things she had been longing to tell Luke since the moment she'd told him she never wanted to speak to him again seemed to just be swarming around in her brain. They meshed together and prohibited Grace from forming a coherent thought and uttering it. _

_"Hello? Is this what you think of as a good prank call?" Luke sounded slightly more awake now despite the yawn he spoke around. "Cause I gotta tell you, it's kind of lame."_

_After another lost moment of trying to speak, Grace slammed the phone down onto the receiver. _

"You should go visit him," The old woman spoke. She stood up and gathered her bags as the bus came into view distantly up the road.

"Huh-oh, wait, what?" Grace looked at the woman confused. "Do I know you?" She asked once more.

"No sugar, you don't, but I know you, Grace," The woman smiled.

Grace raised an eyebrow suspiciously. At first, for a fleeting moment, Grace thought that this old woman could possibly read her articles or may have read her book, but the way the woman smiled at her told a different story.

"You'd be surprised how forgiving some people can be, Grace," The old woman spoke before Grace could get a word out. The bus pulled to a stop at the corner. "Let your feet lead you where you need to go," She winked before a young man, who really looked like a delinquent, offered to help her onto the bus. The old woman smiled and thanked the boy who appeared more like a hoodlum than a nice young man as he helped her. Grace was left to stare after the bus as it pulled away.

* * *

Long after the bus was out of view, Grace stood off the bench. She stared down at the address, gliding her thumb across it and nibbling at her bottom lip. That's when she made her decision. The decision, in fact, that could-no, would-change the course of the rest of not only her life but Stone's too; and maybe a few other lives. Grace did her best not to think as her feet thudded against the pavement in quick succession as she strode as quickly as possible without running since her short legs wouldn't accommodate for long strides. 

_I've got no time to kill/Cause it's now or never/Cause the way I feel/It won't last forever/When you're at that point in life/It just has to be tonight./It's a long, long road/But I'll always come back to you/I don't know which way to turn/But I feel it's the right thing to do/There's so much for me to learn/But I'll always come back to you…/Have your thoughts turned bad/ Are you in a prison/ There's no turning back/There's no indecision/You were always there for me/Now it's your turn to be free/It's a long way from home/But I'll always come back to you/I don't know which way to turn/But I feel it's the right thing to do/There's so much for me to learn/But I'll always come back to you…/Sometimes you just have to leave it all behind you/Take a chance/Just know, you're not alone/ It's a long, long road/But I'll always come back to you/I don't know which way to turn/But I feel it's the right thing to do/There's so much for me to learn/But I'll always come back to you…Always come back to you/ It's a long, long road/But I'll always come back to you/I don't know which way to turn/But I feel it's the right thing to do/There's so much for me to learn/But I'll always come back to you…_

**A/N: And another chapter done. I hope it was worthwhile for you to read. What do you think Luke's reaction should be? Let me know in your review!**

**Chapter title is from "Always Come Back To You" by Ryan Cabrera. **

**Responses: Sayxanything – **Sup Rove? Cool? Hello we're lame cheesy fun goodness. Stone's my hero lol. No other 5-year-old, cause Stone's awesome! Don't harass me! I kept going! Your turn to update, yo!

**Kool-Wolf – **Uhm…my guess: it's you! Stone is cool damnit. That was a lot of reviewing in a short span of time dude. Hate you back + violence to you times 3!

**Sam – **Okay, I'm waiting for the yell! Gotcha, true tone set, good to know. ) Lol when writing those lines I had to recover to continue writing. And it IS the liquid crack of high school (and college) students. You go grab yourself a cup of liquid crack! Thanks for the thumbs up! Don't forget to give me that yell when I start going down.

**TJ-TeeJay – **Ah, I know you're a sucker for Adam scenes; sorry there weren't any in this chapter. Thanks for the input. Let me know if it starts to suck okay?

**Tiff – **Fantabulous, I like that. I don't know if Luke's gonna find out or how. Any suggestions miss spoiler Queen?

**Butterfly Dancing – **No problem on the name thing. I used it cause I loved it. You sound frazzled lol. Glad you feel included! Technically she did call him! He does deserve to know about Stone. Any suggestions for how his reaction should be if or when he does? Haha I'm sorry I interrupted your yoga class! Let me know if you have an suggestions! Thanks again!

**Much love to all but Kool-Wolf, in which case violence to you!**


	5. Forgiving Is Difficult

** Story Title: It's Not a Perfect Universe  
Rating:** **T  
Disclaimer: **'Nough said  
**A/N: **Sorry for any typos, feel free to let me know about them. Sorry for typos especially now because I didn't have time to review the last half of this chapter!

**

* * *

Chapter 5 – Forgiving Is Difficult**

**August 20th, 2012 8:45pm**

When Grace finally found the right address, she paced the sidewalk for a few minutes. She couldn't do this. She had to do this. How could she do this? How could she have done this to Luke? She agonized, staring at the house as she paced, biting her lip and tapping her hand against her leg anxiously.

By the time five minutes had passed, Grace had progressed to the porch. She approached the door and reached a finger to ring the bell before yanking her hand back and turning around. She reached the top step when she again turned around and sauntered back to the door. She glanced towards the driveway at the side of the house and saw a car so, she was pretty sure he was there. If she rang the bell, chances are he would answer. Slowly, now that she was in front of the door, she reached out a fist, in preparation of knocking, but then stopped. She pointed her finger again and it was just about at the buzzer when a voice surprised the hell out of her, causing her to yank her hand away and cover her heart.

"Can I help you?" The woman's voice spoke as she came up the walk with a dog on a leash. Grace froze. This couldn't be happening. "Hello, I said could I help you?" Joan asked, as she stood at the bottom of the steps, a little leery since the person whose back she was staring at hadn't responded.

Grace clenched her eyes and sighed. This was going to happen eventually, might as well be now. "I heard you just fine, Girardi," Grace turned around. Joan almost lost grip on the Irish setter's leash as he wagged his tail, causing his whole body to shake, and offered a friendly bark in Grace's direction. Grace waited for Joan to compose herself. Joan's mouth hung open and her eyes dilated so badly that it looked like there was nothing but pupil in her eyes. Grace swallowed hard as Joan's features began to regain their composure.

"Wha…What are you doing here?" Joan began to slowly climb the stairs, in the similar guarded fashion that Grace's father had with the dog in tow.

"I could almost ask the same…I thought I had your brother's address," Grace tried to stem the awkwardness between them to no avail as she stood in front of the door and Joan stood at the top of the steps on the porch, crossing her arms.

"I live here," Joan looked at Grace expectantly.

Grace nodded. "Look, Uhm, I was just…looking for your brother-,"

"He already left," Joan cut her off. Grace moved aside from the door so that Joan could let the dog in. "And I promised I'd walk Skillet before I left so…" She turned back to Grace after locking the front door. She glanced at Grace and then headed down the steps.

"Girardi, wait," Grace descended the steps to come face to face with Joan again.

"What are you doing here, Grace?" Joan pulled her arm free of Grace's hand. Grace was taken aback by Joan's anger. She felt meek in Joan's presence. The guilt was choking her at the moment, like a sour burp that stuck in the back of your throat burning and eating away are your esophagus and preventing you from doing or concentrating on anything until you got a drink to wash it away.

"I…just, I came to see everyone…not just Luke," Grace finally spoke.

"It's a little late for that, Grace, don't you think?" Joan turned and walked to her car. Grace hesitated but followed, talking through Joan's open window to her.

"Look, I know I screwed up-,"

"Do you?" Joan scoffed and laughed sarcastically. She turned her car on and hooked her seatbelt before looking back at Grace. Despite how sincere Grace looked, Joan continued, angry and bitter. Did Grace really understand what she had done? "Do you really know how you screwed up Grace, because really I have to wonder why, then, it took you 6 years to come back. Unless, of course, this was a recent over night realization? What did you wake up yesterday and say 'oh gosh, I totally shouldn't have done that, darn I should try and fix it?' Because I gotta tell you, it's a bit too little too late."

Grace felt speechless. She had been expecting Joan to be angry, especially once she knew about Stone, but she hadn't been expecting Joan's reaction to just Grace alone would be so hostile and bitter.

"If that's all, I'm going to be late for work," Joan made a point of putting the car in reverse so that Grace would step backwards out of the way. Grace couldn't speak. She just watched as Joan gave one last disappointed shake of her head before backing out of the driving and driving off.

It took almost ten minutes for Grace to snap out of her daze. When she came back to reality she was still thoroughly frazzled by the encounter with Joan. She started walking at a fast pace. She watched where she was going and stopped at lights before crossing the street but she wasn't really seeing where she was going. She just walked. She needed to clear everything out of her mind. She needed to track down Luke before she lost her nerve. She was fairly certain she already had lost her nerve. Grace just kept walking.

**

* * *

10:42 am**

After walking blindly for a period of time Grace couldn't figure out, but she thought it was probably somewhere just under an hour and a half, Grace finally stopped to figure out where she was. She still felt agitated and dazed. Her encounters with her father and with Joan plagued her, replaying through her mind like a movie on repeat. Certain phrases reverberated through her head like a broken record.

Grace shook her head and looked at the building in front of her. The hospital? What the hell would lead her here? Grace scrunched up her face as she looked at the building.

"Can I help you, miss?" An orderly who was taking a cigarette break asked as he stamped out his finished butt.

Grace blinked a few times. "No…no, I'm fine," Her voice sounded foreign to her.

"O-kay," The orderly looked at her strangely before turning and going back in the hospital.

Grace stared at the building for a few extra minutes. Why, she wasn't sure, but she did. Afterwards she sighed. She had to go back to the hotel and figure out what her next move was. Maybe she would go back to Luke's house at 5 O'clock and wait for him to come home in hopes that she wouldn't run into Luke again. That was it, that's what she'd do. Grace turned around to start making her way back.

"Whoa!" A voice yelped when Grace collided with someone and the only reason both of them didn't wind up on the ground was due to the other person balancing himself out and grabbing a hold of Grace's arm. He let go quickly and started to apologize, "Sorry about that, I'm a little scatter brained today-," He cut off mid-sentence.

Grace was already painfully aware of who the voice's owner was before she let her eyes timidly travel upwards to his face. Luke had filled out in his early twenties, as most guys did. He was still lanky, but there was a difference. Had he lifted weights? There's no way. His hair was short now and looked like it'd been recently cut. It was only a few inches long and spiked up messily. Grace tried not to let her eyes become locked to Luke's but she couldn't help herself. Once they were locked, she couldn't pull her eyes away from his. The same eyes she'd been staring at every morning and every night for 5 years now locked onto hers.

"Grace…" It wasn't a question, just a statement. It sounded like a desperate call that he'd been issuing since she'd left and now, finally it was answered. He inched closer timidly. "What are you doing here?" He asked. He looked different without glasses. Grace wondered if he had contacts or if he'd gone and gotten that laser surgery. His face was squarer instead of rounded, probably due to his filling out more.

"I…uhm…came to town…to…uhm," Grace scrunched her eyes and forehead, placing a hand on her forehead to scratch aimlessly at a point of her skin that wasn't itchy. "What, what are you doing here at the hospital?" She asked back. _Good diversionary tactic, Polk, answer a question with a question._

As if Luke could already read her thoughts, despite the years apart, Luke let the corner of his mouth curve into a grin. At least they were on an even plane, both shocked and nervous; had they both been dying to be in each other's presence for 6 years though, he wondered.

"Oh, uh, blood work," He pointed over his shoulder at the hospital doors.

"Oh, right, right," Grace nodded. "The magazine I work for did an article on all your research. Duh, hospital work." She rambled. Luke opened his mouth to speak but Grace continued. "Listen, I have to get going. I have your number though, I call you later on today," She turned to make a quick exit but Luke caught her upper arm gently.

"Grace, wait," Luke sounded almost as desperate as Grace did when she was talking to Joan. She swallowed hard and turned around to face him again. "With the risk of never seeing you again," Luke kicked himself when he saw Grace cringe, "I'm making dinner reservations at Marco's…for 6:30. Meet me there…we can talk…" He suggested.

Grace eyed Luke's pleading expression. At least he was still quick on his toes. She nodded. "Okay," She agreed.

"Look, I think you at least owe me a dinner-wait, did you say okay?" He asked. Grace nodded. Luke smiled broadly. "Okay," He said. "Oh…I better get inside," He cleared his throat. Grace nodded. "See you tonight," Luke walked for the door, casting a smiling glance in her direction before he disappeared into the hospital.

"Great…now all you need to do is show up to dinner and make him hate you…" Grace sighed and groaned as she ran her hands through her hair. She wanted to kick herself as she started walking again. This time she headed for her hotel. She was going to need to catch some actual sleep if she was going to be ready for tonight-Especially if she had to make a late drive back home to Baltimore if-when-things went horribly wrong. Great, she was already planning and escape.

**

* * *

August 20th, 2012 6:30pm**

Grace had woken up late, but still managed to make it to the restaurant on time. As she walked in, she could see Luke already sitting at a table by a window, staring out blankly at the world. He looked so different than what Grace could remember and yet he still seemed to retain all those qualities she'd loved, albeit from a distance, for years. He was dressed in a dark gray suit with a blue button down shirt that matched the shade of his eyes and a matching tie. His right hand fidgeted with the corner of a napkin idly as he stared out that window.

Grace felt her hands shaking. Luke was different, of course he was after 6 years but he was probably close to the person who he used to be. Grace, however, had gone through a transplant of personality and habits. She woke up and got to work on time while keeping Stone on a schedule. She cleaned, she cooked, she accepted invitations to barbecues and parties, she socialized with Dalia and Drake on rare occasions, and she dressed almost nothing like she used to; the proof to this fact lying in the black dress she had donned for the outing. Grace hadn't even remembered packing it. She had thanked her over working brain for getting the wrinkles out before she'd fallen asleep. She was even wearing heeled shoes, even if they were barely heeled.

"Can I help you miss?" The hostess asked.

"Oh, yes, I'm meeting someone here," Grace began to explain.

"Ah, yes, right this way, your escort arrived only moments ago," The hostess lead Grace in Luke's direction.

Luke didn't spot them until they were almost at the table. He hesitated at first, staring at Grace. Grace could feel her cheeks heat up as the hostess left menus and walked away.

"Uh…right this is awkward," Grace reached for her chair.

Luke sprung out of his chair, almost knocking his glass of water over as he did so and shooed her hands away. "Don't complain, it's my job," He offered a smile and held her chair out for her. Grace took a deep breath and sat in the chair as Luke pushed it in, getting a whiff of his cologne. She closed her eyes just until she felt him move and she opened them again before he sat down.

"So…" Grace spoke slowly.

"So let's forget the awkwardness and make this easier on ourselves," Luke suggested.

"What? No, no, it's not-,"

"Grace, come on. We both know it's awkward. And now that that in the open, let's just move on with the night," Luke smiled, opening his menu. Grace followed suit, glad to avert her eyes to the words.

After they had ordered Grace let Luke to most of the talking. He rambled on about is research throughout most of dinner. Grace tried to keep up even though she only understood half of what he was saying, as usual. By the time they got through the main course and decided to forgo dessert, Luke turned the tables on her.

"All right we just spent an hour and a half talking about me," He spoke up. "I want to hear what you've been up to."

Grace almost choked on her iced tea. She finished drinking it and put the cup down. "Well, you know, nothing as interesting as trying to cure a disease," She stammered. "Just writing for the magazine."

"Please, I know you've been doing more than that," Luke smirked.

Grace felt her body freeze. What was he talking about? Could he know? He wouldn't be this calm. Her mind reeled.

"I read your book," Luke spoke again, clarifying.

Grace let out a shaky breath. "Oh…right," She nodded. They talked about her book and the follow up she was going to write until the check came. They argued for five minutes over who was going to pay until Luke finally wrestled the check away and paid the bill.  
Once they were outside, Luke convinced Grace to at least let him drive her back to wherever she was staying.

"Grace," He said when he'd opened the passenger door for her. Grace stopped and looked up at Luke, tall as ever compared to her short stature. It had been a long time since they'd been close enough to feel the heat coming off of each other. "I've been waiting so long for you to come back…" He anxiously let the sentence hang in the air.

Sometime in the moment she walked determinedly through the doors of the restaurant to the time she'd spotted Luke, Grace had chickened out on telling Luke about Stone during dinner. Now she felt the burning, sour acidy taste of guilty churning up her throat as she looked at him. The distance between them lessened slightly. How could she let him think it was this easy to have it all back after all the pain she'd caused him; some of which he didn't even know about yet?

"Luke, I-," Grace hadn't gotten another word out before Luke hand had grabbed her right behind her ear and he'd drawn her to him. Grace had waited and longed for this kiss, this touch, for so long that she couldn't pull herself away. Instead she instinctively, with years of stored hunger and desire, delved into the kiss thrust upon her.

Minutes later they separated, breathless. Grace stood with her eyes closed for a few extra seconds, trying to comprehend what she'd just done. She opened her eyes to see Luke just opening his own. They stared, fixated on each other for long moments. Grace blinked repeatedly, stemming her eyes from filling at the hopeful look in his eyes. This was all wrong. Grace cleared her throat and broke their gazes to look down.

"Come back for coffee," Luke blurted. Grace looked up at him again. "Please…we need to talk about more than just where we've been working."

Grace swallowed hard. She knew she had no choice. She did have to tell him, after all. Slowly she nodded. Luke smiled as she climbed into the seat and he closed the door. The ride back was filled with sideways glances and small chit chat.

* * *

They had only been in the kitchen of the house making coffee for ten minutes when they heard the front door open and some laughter. Grace tensed. Luke smiled at her. 

"Joan's gonna freak when she sees you, come on," Luke grinned as he took Grace by the hand and started to head for the living room. Luke was right though-Joan was going to freak.

Luke and Grace reached the foyer and Joan and her companion froze right before the steps. She stared at Grace as her face went cold. Her male counterpart stuck out his hand at the awkward silence.

"Hi, I'm Wyatt Cole," He said to Grace.

"Wyatt, this is Grace," Luke smiled as he introduced Grace. Grace shook Wyatt's hand.

"Ohh, I've heard a lot about you," Wyatt smiled. Luke blushed.

"All of it bad, I'm sure," Grace said. Wyatt and Luke laughed.

"I can't believe you came back here," Joan stood in front of Grace and crossed her arms.

"Joan," Luke looked at Joan strangely.

"So what, she gives you those sad pathetic eyes and says I'm sorry and that's it, you accept it?" Joan turned on Luke. Wyatt stood back, confused. Luke didn't have time to respond because Joan rounded on Grace again. "I told you this morning, Grace, too little too late. You forgot about us for long enough, it's time we forget about you."

"Joan," Luke said more sternly now, as Grace stood motionless. "Knock it off."

"No," Joan said shortly. "Do you even know what you did to him? Huh do you? No you don't! You don't know what he had to go through because you were too chicken to stick it out and muddle through like the rest of us!" Joan yelled. She wasn't angry just because Grace had abandoned Luke. She was angry because Grace had abandoned all of them, including Joan. "And Adam…what you did to Adam! And me, Grace! You just dumped us all because we weren't too blind to see that you needed help! Now you want to forgive and forget? Well that's not gonna fly. Get out."

Even Luke was stunned at Joan's anger. Grace teetered for a moment, she glanced at Luke and then walked towards the door. She grabbed the jacket she'd brought, which she'd used to put everything she needed in the pockets, and opened the door.

"Grace, no, don't leave," Luke pushed past Joan. Grace turned to look at him.

"No, it's all right. She's right," Grace nodded.

"At least let me get my keys and drive you," Luke suggested. Grace nodded slowly and Luke turned around to go find his keys in the kitchen, casting a glare at Joan as he passed her. She looked down at her feet. Wyatt had abandoned the fight, confused and had gone up to Joan's room to give them space. Joan walked over to Grace, unable to control herself. She grabbed Grace's jacket from her hands and tossed it out the door towards the porch.

"I want you out of my house, you can wait outside," Joan ignored the items that fell out of Grace's jacket.

"I'm sorry that I hurt you this badly," Grace said before stepping through the threshold. Joan watched her start picking things up.

"Joan, what the hell is wrong with you?" Luke came through the door and started helping Grace.

"It's okay, I've got it," Grace said quickly, but it was too late. Luke had already paused over the plastic photo holder. His hand hung in the air above it, perfectly still. His eyes remained focused on the picture in front of him. Grace's face smiled back at him, smashed up against a little boy's face as the boy sat in her lap and she hugged him.

"Go run away again. It's what you're good at," Joan spit out. She really wanted to stop. She wanted to calm down and think about her reaction to Grace rationally, but she couldn't.

"Joan…shut up," Luke said breathlessly. Grace watched Luke's hand over the pictures, afraid to look at his face. He wasn't looking at her anyway; he was staring at the picture. "Go upstairs with Wyatt, Grace and I…need to talk alone."

"Luke you can't seriously be-,"

"Joan!" Luke roared, holding his right hand up to silence her. The volume of his voice made Joan flinch. "Just…go," He ordered. Joan hesitated for only a second and then turned on her heel and went up the stairs. "Grace…" Luke finally spoke as he picked up the photo holder. His hands shook a little as he slowly, gingerly flipped through it.

Grace closed her eyes. She was afraid to open them. How could she look him in the eyes now that he knew her lies? Was it technically lying if you simply withheld information? Luke had never asked causing Grace to deny, so she simply had withheld information.

"Grace…" His voice spoke her name barely above a whisper again. This time he placed a hand on her shoulder and Grace's eyes instinctively snapped open. Petrified, she turned her gaze up towards his, aware that she was fighting off tears and hating herself for it. "How…when…why…"

"Now all you need are the where and the who?" Grace cringed at her own words.

"Let's go inside." Luke suggested.

* * *

"How could you not even at least _call_ and tell me?" Luke was nearly shouting after Grace he and Grace had spent almost an hour talking about Stone. He had reached a stage of anger now after Grace had rummaged around in her jacket pockets and produced more pictures for him to look through. He was barely looking at Grace. Grace understood why; he was too captivated by the pictures of his son. 

"I didn't know until a few weeks after I was already gone," Grace tried to explain even though she knew that no possible explanation could excuse what she'd done. "I was freaked…I didn't know what to do. I didn't have a ton of money. I know it was wrong, I've been well aware of it since I found out-,"

"Then why didn't you pick up the damn phone or come the hell back?" Luke punctuated his sentence with a firm fist to the table, shaking the photos and his coffee mug. Grace jumped slightly and Luke clenched his jaw, inhaling slowly. "Sorry…" He said slowly. When Grace didn't speak any further, he looked at her and instantly an internal conflict arose within him. He hated to see Grace reduced to staring at her slightly shaking hands as she fended off tears. He could tell she was fighting not to shed them not to keep up a tough act but because she felt and knew that Luke had a right to be angry and she didn't have a right to guilt him into feeling bad for her.

Luke let out a long breath. He noticed Grace fingering a thin case under her hands. He couldn't see anything written on what looked like a CD inside the case.

"What's that?" Luke mustered to ask. He ran a hand through his short hair and sighed. The anger was leaving him and he was trying to assess the situation to figure out a solution.

"I uhm…" Grace hazarded a short glance at Luke and then at the disc in her hand. "You got a DVD player?" She cleared her throat.

Luke nodded and stood. He shook his head for Grace to follow him. Grace lagged a little bit behind Luke as they ascended the stairs. It felt to Grace like she was walking to the gas chamber, or the electric chair. Each step was exaggerated and painful to Grace. Each one could have been her last. They turned and went left up the hallway. The upstairs in the house was set up like two suites. To the left was a door and to the right was a door. Grace assumed the one to the right with the closed door was Joan's room.

Luke opened his door and was greeted eagerly by the Irish setter Grace had seen early. After a quick hello and a pat on the head to the pup, Skillet, he rushed up to Grace and sniffed at her repeatedly until Luke told him to go lay down. He held the door open and let Grace walk through before shutting it. Grace took in the room. It was vast and open, the size of two master bedrooms due, probably, to a lot of renovation. The room itself was shaped like a square with an offshoot against the right wall in the form of a walk in closet and his own bathroom, which, from Grace current point of view looked rather large. On the wall between the closet and the door to the bathroom was a bureau with a mirror on it.

Along the left wall was a small arrangement of a pseudo-living room. There was an entertainment center with a 40" flat screen TV on it. Inside the entertainment center was a VCR, a DVD player, the newest version of play station, and a few other devices Grace couldn't recognize. Strategically placed about 6 feet away from the entertainment center was a large cushy couch that stretched to accommodate a chaise lounge on its corner. A coffee table sat between the couch and the entertainment center. Down the wall past the entertainment center in the corner was a desk that curved around the corner to accommodate what looked like multiple linked MAC computers. There were three different flat screens hovering about the desk and a large rolling leather chair sitting atop the hardwood floor.

About 8 feet behind the couch was Luke's king sized bed, perfectly done. At the foot of the bed was a bench that held extra pillows when the bed was turned down. The seat of the bench opened and contained a hamper that was slightly overflowing with clothes. Various objects lay about in the room like a chewed up tennis ball, a dirty dog bed, some sneakers, and crumpled up papers.

"You can sit down, it's okay," Luke motioned to the couch. Grace slowly made her way over and sat down on the edge of the couch, leaning her right arm on the armrest. She reached a shaky hand out and gave the disc to Luke. Luke took it from her and went about putting it into the DVD player. He sat down close, but not too close, to Grace-in the middle of the couch with the remote in his hands.

"It'll play automatically…" Grace said slowly. "I-I knew what I was doing was wrong, Luke…Dalia and Drake, two of my, I uhm, friends helped me compile this…"

Luke nodded and kept his attention on the screen. The first thing to appear was a camera shot of Stone, lying in a bassinet blinking awake and staring up as his hands and arms twitched out of his control and he wiggled slightly. The words _Stone Adley, day 2_ in white text appeared at the bottom of the screen for a few seconds as Stone uttered a gurgle and started to drool slightly.

"At least make it a big drool, kiddo, this one's for Daddy," Grace said awkwardly as she filmed. Her hand reached out and wiped off his face with a loose cloth.

The video went on for almost a half an hour. It showcased videos and pictures featuring Stone for the past 5 years. It included birthdays, first steps, first words, drawings Stone had given Grace, holidays, soccer (Stone's favorite sport), pre-school play and graduation, Stone and Grace playing in the yard, and other various events. Luke was already crying silently as he watched by the end. The end was a video taken what looked like two years ago when Stone was 3. Stone was seated on Grace's lap on the floor of a living room with a large photo album in front of them on the coffee table. Grace pointed to the picture as she used her other arm to hold Stone securely in her lap.

"Okay, who's this?" She asked.

Stone giggled and turned his face to look at her. "That's you mommy!" He cheered triumphantly.

Grace smiled broadly at him and nodded. "Oh you think you're smart huh?" She asked. Stone nodded. "Okay, and this?" She pointed to another picture.

"It's me!" Stone dramatically leaned forward imitating his smile in the picture and pointing to his chest.

Grace laughed along with him and tickled his stomach. "Okay smarty pants, who's this?"

The person controlling the camera was standing at an angle where the pictures Grace was pointing to were visible on the screen.

"Mommy, that's daddy," Stone replied to a picture of Luke. Luke stared at the screen in shock.

"That's right," Grace nodded. Stone went on to identify Joan, Kevin, Adam, Luke's parents and even Grace's parents and a few other people. Right after this scene was a video at Stone's 5th birthday party. Grace had taken him to a quiet corner and asked him if there was anything he wanted to say to anyone on the video. Stone had nodded timidly and asked in a whisper if he could say something to his Daddy. Grace had said yes and Stone looked into the camera with a big grin before waving and shouting out 'Hi daddy!'

The screen turned black and Grace wasn't sure if she wanted to look at Luke, but she knew she had to. She turned her head and discovered Luke still crying silently with his eyes fixated on the blank screen.

"I wanted him to know," Grace finally spoke. "Even if I was too chicken to come back. I know you deserve better than this, Luke," Grace had troubled pushing the tears out of her voice. She felt a few of them break free and traverse down hr cheeks but she did nothing to stop them.

Luke turned to face her. He reached a hand up against his better judgment and used his thumb to wipe Grace's cheek dry. Against Grace's own better judgment, her face curled itself against Luke's palm instinctively. Her face scrunched in worry. Luke knew without a doubt that scenarios were running through her mind. He hoped she didn't think he would go far enough to take Stone away from her. He may have still been angry, but he wasn't blind enough to know that he would still do anything to get Grace back; with the added bonus of his son. Grace averted her eyes from him.

"Why did you do this to yourself?" Luke was aware of the strange tone his voice had taken. He was still trying to process all of this. Grace looked at him. "How could you not trust me Grace? After everything. How many times did I prove-,"

"I know you did," Grace looked down again. "It kind of snowballed on me. I thought about coming back every day. But then I chickened out and I know it was stupid, and I know you were right, and I know all I've ever done is screw us up, and I'm sorry and I know this nothing I can say or do that could ever atone for everything I've done, so I'll just, show myself out," Grace stood and headed for the door. "I'll call you when I get back to Baltimore and give you time to figure out what you want to do, if you want to call a lawyer or whatever-,"

"Grace, stop it," Luke followed her and grabbed her arm before she got to the door. She turned around to look at him.

"Luke…" Her eyes shook as they filled. "I never meant to…" Grace choked on her words. Luke drew Grace to him, sliding his right arm behind her back and brushing his left hand through her hair. Grace wasn't sure how long she stood there, shaking and crying against Luke. She took in his familiar smell and the comfort he was offering her. It wasn't too long before the guilt began to eat at Grace and she started to doubt herself. She tried to pull free from him.

"I have to go," She tried to wriggle away. Luke held onto her tightly.

"Stop," He said next to her ear as he held her to him. "Stop running away from me, Grace…I love you."

Grace turned her head upwards and stared at Luke. Did she really hear that right? "H-how could you…after…"

"I told you before you kicked me out that I'd be waiting for you to come back," Luke replied. "We have a lot to make up for," He nodded.

"I should…get back to the hotel," Grace cleared her throat.

"No," Luke shook his head, running his hand over her cheek again. "Stay here…please?" He asked. Grace eyed him. Luke stepped away and put his hands up innocently. "I'll sleep on the couch. I have some pajamas you can borrow."

Grace inhaled deeply, thinking it over. She nodded slowly. "Okay…I'll stay."

"Okay, I'll grab some clothes for you," Luke began rummaging in the bureau for some sweats.

_Forgiving is difficult to forget isn't it possible/ Living with a diary of regret/Never let it take control/It's falling short/You're human, don't worry…/It's not the first/It won't be the last/Honest mistake/It's not a perfect universe/That was the past, promises break/It's not so bad, it could be worse/Uh huh…uh huh…uh huh…uh huh… uh huh…uh huh…Uh huh…/Expectations ser me up, disappoint/To commit is challenging/Maybe gives me more room, to create/In this state of balancing/It's not all your fault/We're human/Don't worry… It's not the first/It won't be the last/Honest mistake/It's not a perfect universe/That was the past, promises break/It's not so bad, it could be worse/ Uh huh…uh huh…uh huh…uh huh… uh huh…uh huh…Uh huh…/There's not much to say/If all is forgiven don't you feel that way/ But as long as we live to tell/It's a story, so don't be sorry/ It's not the first/It won't be the last/Honest mistake/It's not a perfect universe/That was the past, promises break/It's not so bad, it could be worse/ Uh huh…uh huh…uh huh…uh huh… uh huh…uh huh…Uh huh…_

**

* * *

A/N: What do you think? Luke was a bit of a softy…but come on! **

**Chapter title is from "Promises Break" by Michael Tolcher.**

**Responses: Sam – **Warm up them vocal chords after this chap! Sorry, you loved the cliffhanger and you know it! Ah, I'm not sure how I'm going to play the Rabbi card. Ah, I almost made myself cry with his nightmare. Thanks dude, much love!

**MDM79 – **Chapter 3, I figured Adam was easy going enough, and knew Grace long enough to accept Grace back after running into her. Chapter 4, Ah, I did to the Leukemia for a reason, but I knew you'd like it too! Thanks on the chicken skin! Thanks dude, much love!

**TJ-TeeJay – **Thanks. I don't know if Grace is going to know the old lady was God, yet. I'm heading over to read your update in the morning (sorry dude, I'm totally about to pass out). I hope you liked the way I handled Luke's reaction! Thanks dude, much love!

**Butterfly Dancing – **I waited longer than the right day to update but I hope you did well on your tests! You could always solve for G & L instead of X &Y. Lol Stone rocks…heh! There still may be some surprises…keep your eyes peeled for clues! Thanks dude, much love!

**Hezziebob182 – **Woohoo addiction! To fanfic at least. Did ya like the reaction? Thanks dude, much love!

**Tiff – **Awesometabulous? Hm, it's growing on me. I might be yes. It depends. They've still got a lot of discussing to do, don't worry. Why advertise, no one else wants to join our fun cheesy lame coolness dude! Thanks dude, much love!

**Kool-Wolf – **Dude! Thanks! Was this long enough? I never knew you could review that fast, yo. The rabbi card will be played again, worry not. Hate you back! Violence to you!

**Sayxanything – **You know you loved my cliffhanger! Don't lie to you! Ah turmoil…yay! P.S. – Loved the water gun thing on the journal, lol. Thanks dude, much love!

**Annieca – **Thanks for the encouragement. You don't suck at reviews, relax! Random fact: my middle name's Ann. The thing about the pregnancy timing: I was referring to when a woman starts dilating at about 3 centimeters. You have to go to 10 centimeters in order to actually be in labor. It takes varying times to go from 3 cm to 10. It took my one cousin almost a week. Mind you her water didn't break during this time, it's just what your body does. Normally, the labors will last 13 hours before the delivery. Unless the baby's in trouble, or the parents request it, normally they try not to operate and do a cesarean. My other cousin was in labor for three days, complete with contractions until her water finally broke and she was dilated enough. The hospital sent her home at one point and told her to come back the next day. Anywho, 56 was a random number I pulled out. Call it poetic license if you'd like. )


	6. Been Far Away For Far Too Long

**Disclaimer:** 'Nough said  
**A/N:** Sorry for any typos, feel free to let me know about them.

**

* * *

Chapter 5 – Been Far Away For Far Too Long**

**August 21st, 2012 Tuesday, 2:22am**

A couple of hours after finally winning the argument over who should sleep in the bed, Grace stretched out on the chaise lounge part of the couch in Luke's room. She had a comfy over-sized sweatshirt blanket thrown over her, which was a good thing because the youngest of the Girardi's kept their central air on at near sub-zero temperatures. Grace hugged the blanket to her. The TV was still on, so she picked up the nearby remote, muted the TV and pushed play.

She had last talked to Stone at 8pm, before he had to go to sleep, in hushed whispers while changing into the clothes Luke had given her in the bathroom. He had begged her to come home again, claiming he'd had another bad dream; he couldn't remember what the dream was about, but he knew it was bad because it made his stomach feel 'wonky.' Grace sighed as she watched the video. She didn't recognize herself as the woman on the screen.

She had gone and left the life she was just starting to like behind in Arcadia to trade it in for this new life filled with different friends-who liked the person she was now and never knew or probably hadn't even wanted to know about the person she was before-and play dates, work, structure, deadlines and everything she had despised and hated in what she considered her past life. How had she managed to lose herself? _Easy, Polk, you ran away and things got away from you…you sacrificed._ That's it-sacrifice.

"I want to meet him,"

Grace jumped nearly a foot off of the chaise lounge with a gasp before she landed among her blanket again. Luke smirked slightly as she covered her heart with her hand and looked at him. He was leaning against the back of the couch with his hands folded along its back.

"Sorry…I couldn't sleep either," He offered a sheepish shrug.

"We already discussed that," Grace looked back at the screen, taking the mute off now that she knew Luke was awake. Luke walked around the couch and lay down so his head was near Grace's knee. His lanky body stretched along the couch and his legs swung over the armrest. "It's not fair to him to just spring you on him."

"But he knows who I am," Luke countered.

"He knows your picture. And he knows that he doesn't know you because you live in a different city. And he asks about you all the time. But I can't just show up at home with you in tow. It'd freak him out," Grace reasoned.

Luke stared at the screen. "I deserve to at least meet him," He said faintly.

"I didn't say you wouldn't meet him," Grace sounded slightly alarmed. "I just need some time to talk to him and explain more."

Luke nodded, still looking at the screen. The DVD ended and Luke reached out, stopping Grace from turning the TV off so he could push play again and restart the video. They sat in silence until it was halfway through again.

"I did come back," Grace let the phrase hang only for a second between them. "Once."

Luke angled his head to glance at Grace. This time she was the one looking at the screen. "You did?"

Grace nodded as she turned her attention to an imaginary stray thread on the blanket by her knee after pulling her legs in and crossing them.

"I wanted to see," She cleared her throat. "I wanted to see if, uh, everyone was okay." Luke could see through the lie. She came back to see him. "He was with me," Grace was looking at the screen again. "It wasn't very long after he was born, just a couple of months," She cleared her throat. "Your parents were having a barbecue. I never got out of the car. I was too afraid of what would happen."

"You thought we'd freak on you?" Luke asked.

"No," Grace shook her head, "I thought you wouldn't…"

Luke turned his eyes to hers. He didn't know what the right words were. He longed to turn time back so he could fix what he'd done; maybe he could have kept Grace there and he'd have been able to avoid all of this-and he wouldn't have missed his son's life so far. He closed his eyes and turned his head. When he opened them he stared up at the ceiling.

"The night you left, I fought with Joan," He rattled on absently. "I was livid that she knew you were leaving and she didn't tell me. I didn't speak to her for...almost 4 months."

Grace cringed. Luke and Joan may have always fought wildly but if there was one thing to be said about them it was that when one teetered on the edge close to falling, the other wasn't far behind-diving to catch whichever was cascading towards the bottom.

"Adam didn't utter more than maybe 15 words until well past December," Luke continued. "He was doing all right though…until his dad-,"

"He told me," Grace closed her eyes tightly.

When Grace had been six, she had gone over to Adam's house and found Adam and some other boys from his neighborhood playing roller hockey. Grace had begged to join in despite the fact that she'd had no roller skates. When they finally let her play, everyone but Adam had ganged up on her, resulting in a scraped knee and a bloody lip. Adam had screamed at them and the next thing Grace knew Carl Rove came swooping in. He had scooped Grace up easily in his arms and brought her inside before even Adam had had a chance to react. He brought her into the Rove kitchen and sat her on the counter next to the sink where he made quick work of cleaning her knee and her face.

_"Now you listen to me and you listen good," He had leaned on his elbows on the edge of the counter so his face was level with Grace's, "If anybody ever does anything like that do you again I want you to go crazy. You kick, bite, claw and swing at them until they're so frightened they nearly pee their pants and they won't ever even think of pulling one over on you again. Got it?" _

_Grace had nodded quickly. Carl had simply smiled at her and ruffled up her hair. "That a girl," He'd winked then hooked his hands under her arms and put her back on the floor. "We'll make a fighter out of you yet. Go on, get back out there and teach them a lesson they'll never forget."_

_"Okay," Grace had started to head back out through the house. _

_"And don't you forget, Grace, don't ever give up or stop until you're good and protected." Carl had called after her. _

Grace had gone back outside, to Adam's astonishment, where they had abandoned roller hockey for tackle football on a lawn across the street. Some of the bigger boys taunted her, asking her if she was back for more. Adam said they could play another game but Grace said no; she was as good as any boy-better even. She proceeded to tackle every one of the boys who had hurt her, causing four of them to go home crying.

"You saw Adam?" Luke broke Grace's thoughts.

"He bumped into me on Sunday night," Grace replied simply. Luke nodded. "He doesn't hate me as much as your sister does, surprisingly."

"Joan's…just being protective," Luke tried to defend his sister.

"I wish she'd let me explain. Not that I even offered you a good explanation," Grace frowned.

"She's still processing. Give her time," Luke assured. "She was the one who kept it together the most. Adam and I were useless. I was giving her the silent treatment. She was trying to get through to Adam. I think she may have saved us both," Luke snickered after a pause. "With those stupid…weird things she kept doing. She kept dragging us into them. She still does. I dunno," Luke's smirk faded. "I know she saved me though. Especially in the last two years."

"What happened?" Grace inquired.

"Things got…murky," Luke stated. He didn't go any further and Grace detected she should just leave it at that. She sighed and ran her hands through her hair.

"God I screwed up so much. I don't," She groaned angrily at herself and rested her chin harshly into her palms. "I don't know how to fix all of this-if that's even possible."

"Hey," Luke flipped so he was on his stomach and propped himself up on his elbows. He reached a hand out and pulled a hand free so he could hold onto it. "Nothing is unsalvageable." He smiled slightly. "You came back didn't you? You're trying to mend things, aren't you? That's got to count for something."

"Does it?" Grace wondered aloud. "Is that really enough to fix all that extensive damage?"

"Maybe you should have a little more faith in the people that love you," Luke suggested.

Grace snorted. "And after all this time who would that be?"

"Me…Adam…Joan," Luke looked at Grace. "My parents…your parents,"

Grace rolled her eyes. "You had me until that last part," She leaned back and stretched her legs out. Luke retained her hand as she put her head back. "My dad wants less to do with me than Joan."

"I'm sorry," Luke said sincerely. "I know you hate me for what I did-,"

"Just…stop right there," Grace lifted her head. "You were right and you know it, okay? And I never hated you for anything. I just…I freaked out. You have more reason to hate me then I ever had to hate you. And if my father wants to despise me and disown me for exposing my mom as an alcoholic to the world and crushing his life of denial, well then there's nothing I can do to stop him."

Luke nodded slowly. "Does he know?"

"Does he know what?" Grace replied.

"About Stone," Luke stated simply.

Grace nodded, "But not until the other day."

Luke scrunched up his forehead. "And he still acted awful?"

Grace snorted and laughed derisively, putting her head back dramatically. "He acted like I was there to beg for money. He didn't even care when I told him."

Luke frowned. The silence returned, but only lasted for a few minutes. Grace moved so she was half-lying, half-sitting on the chaise lounge and Luke rolled onto his back again, putting his hands under his head. Both stared off into the darkness of the room. Skillet lifted his head, rattling his collar. He seemed to realize he was alone on Luke's bed and his nails tapped across the hardwood floor as he walked over and laid on the piece of carpet that spread from under the coffee table to under the couch, in front of Luke. There, he put his head back down and went to sleep.

"Tell me more about him?" Luke finally broke the silence.

"Like what?" Grace asked.

"Anything," Luke's voice was low but audible. "Everything."

"Well…" Grace thought about this for a moment. "He despises Kool and the Gang. He watches the discovery channel because he thinks cartoons are boring. He will not eat pizza unless there's enough garlic to kill a thousand vampires on it. He knows the periodic table backwards and forwards but hasn't learned to even write yet. He starts preschool in less than a month. He takes pride in knowing bigger words than I know, which isn't extremely hard I suppose but very impressive for a five year old. In the video, the last shot at his birthday where he says hi to you, that came out of left field. I didn't say I was video taping to send to you or anything. He just wanted to say hi, in case you ever saw it so you knew," Grace felt her smile wane. "He's nothing like me, Luke. I'm pretty sure that's a good thing, though."

"I doubt that he's nothing like you," Luke began to argue, "And how can you say that? You shouldn't deprecate yourself like that you know."

"Oh please, name one good characteristic about me," Grace challenged.

"I can name more than one," Luke said easily. "You're determined not to fail; no matter how much you stumble and fall you always find away to pick yourself up and keep going. When you figure out something wrong is going on-even if it's something you're doing-you set out to change it and don't let it go until you do. You have always had a clear sense of what you thought was right and even if you fought tooth and nail to prove your point after you knew you were wrong, you weren't too proud to rethink the world and maybe a gray area you had missed. You're confident, despite the shit hand you were dealt halfway through the game. At the same time, you're leery. You didn't want the world to sneak up and bite you in the ass when you weren't looking, so that you always had a clear, easy get away from an attack."

"Oh, yeah, great. My good quality is running away from things-,"

"No," Luke interrupted him. "Self preservation. There's a difference."

"Whatever you want to call it, it's just another term for running away." Grace countered.

"You're not the only one who runs away from things Grace," Luke stated.

"And what have you run away from, ever?" Grace asked.

"You."

Grace stared down at Luke, perplexed. "What?" She asked.

"I knew where you were," Luke answered. "Your magazine wrote an article on my team."

"I know…I didn't read it," Grace cleared her throat.

"I was in your office building," Luke admitted. "Shortly before it was printed. I knew you wrote for the magazine. I've been reading your articles-I read your book too. Anyway, I saw your name and your office number. I got so far as to pushing the floor button in the elevator before I lost my nerve and got off on the floor below yours. I took the stairs down and left."

"I really am sorry Luke, if I could change this and go back…I would've gotten out of the car," She let the sentence hang over them.

"I know," Luke replied after a few moments.

"Just give me a few days Luke. By the end of the week, you can meet him," Grace finally promised.

"Okay," Luke said softly. The silence returned then, leaving both of them to their own thoughts in the dark.

**

* * *

August 21st, 2012, Tuesday, 6:03am**

Though she'd only fallen asleep sometime around five in the morning, Grace was programmed to be up with the sun regardless. So when the offensively blinding rays began to seep through Luke's Venetian blinds, Grace squinted awake and rubbed her eyes. Luke was asleep, still on his back along the couch with his legs hanging over the armrest. His right arm was scrunched up and resting on his stomach and his left arm was down on Skillet's stomach as Skillet slept happily on the floor against the couch.

Grace stretched her stiff muscles, grimacing only when her right calf muscle tightened and cramped. She bit her lip to keep from expelling a cry of pain as she tried to unlock her ankle and rub the soreness out of her cramped calf. When she finally was able to move, Grace climbed quietly to her feet. She made her way to the bathroom and changed back into her dress, despite the comfort of Luke's sweatpants and T-shirt, before bringing herself down the stairs. She moved carefully, hoping not to wake Joan up.

Grace reached the bottom of the stairs and realized that her coat was in the kitchen. She figured that was okay though, because she could leave a note for Luke on the dry erase board she'd seen on the fridge. She tiptoed into the kitchen; glad she'd waited to put her shoes on. She grabbed the black marker and pulled the cap off. She'd gotten as far as writing Luke's name before she was startled out of her skin.

"Is that how you play it now, Grace?" Joan asked from the kitchen table behind Grace. "Reel them in, spend the night and sneak out?"

Grace turned around, nearly dropping the marker. Joan was sitting at the table with her arms crossed. "You scared the crap out of me." She said, at a loss.

"Imagine my surprise to come down for coffee this morning," Joan stood and brought her mug to the sink, dumped it and put it in the dishwasher before facing Grace and crossing her arms again. "And finding that your belongings are still here. To realize that my brother has fallen for you all over again after you just destroyed his heart is one thing. But to play him like this, Grace, so you can get your kicks leaving him again is low."

"Look, Girardi," Grace began. "I understand you're pissed. You have every right to be, I'm not trying to change that-,"

"Save it," Joan said shortly. "Leave Luke your stupid goodbye message and get out of his life again." Joan walked out of the kitchen towards the steps. She turned around and glanced at Grace. "Don't come back next time. I don't think Luke would live through it." She said before grabbing a set of keys and leaving the house in her pajama bottoms and top and a pair of slippers.

Grace inhaled deeply. She sighed and mechanically left Luke a message with her cell phone number on it and instructions to call her during his lunch break. Afterwards she gathered her coat and made sure her hair looked at least somewhat tame before leaving Luke's house with one last glance at it behind her.

* * *

The sun hung low in the sky still as Grace walked, keeping the light breeze that filtered through trees and buildings cold enough to make Grace hug her coat shut around her. 

It wasn't until she had finally returned to her hotel room almost 96 minutes later that the words mulling in her head struck her painfully. _I know she saved me though. Especially in the last two years._ _Don't come back next time. I don't think Luke would live through it. Things got…murky. _Murky? What did that mean anyway? Grace's mind was too tired to figure it out. She dropped herself down onto her bed and pulled the covers over herself succumbing to her mind numbing exhaustion.

* * *

Joan rapped fiercely on the door in front of her, interchanging knocking with doorbell ringing until finally, she heard the lock unclick. Seconds later the door swung open and Adam appeared, rubbing his eyes. 

"Jane? What's going on? What time is it?" Adam asked through a yawn. Joan pushed through him as she started talking a mile a minute leaving Adam to shut the door and follow her.

"You will never guess who's back in town. Grace of all people in the world is back in town. Can you believe that? She actually came back!" Joan raged as Adam flopped down onto the middle of his couch, yawning and letting his tired eyes follow Joan while she paced feverishly back and forth on the other side of his coffee table.

"Yeah, I know she is-," Adam tried to mutter but Joan cut him off, ignoring his words.

"And not only that but right away my brother just welcomes her with open arms after what she did! After everything he went through when he needed her more than he needed any of us and he just welcomes her back and lets her spend the night with him! Can you believe that?"

"She spent the night?" Adam was confused.

"Yes! Keep up, Adam!" Joan's arms waved fluidly as she kept venting. "And _then_ I go down for my coffee this morning and I find _this_ on the kitchen table!" Joan whipped out a picture and threw it in Adam's direction. Adam jumped and groaned when the corner of the picture gave him a paper cut. He looked at the picture, surprised to see the infant version of Stone staring back at him. "She has a baby and comes back and Luke stills falls for her!"

"Uhm, Jane," Adam swallowed nervously.

"She probably fed him some stupid sob story and Luke fell right for it. He has this sick obsession with saving her. He played too many video games, that's the problem. Now he thinks he's some kind of knight in shining armor, swooping in to pick up the pieces-,"

"Jane…" Adam tried again.

"And he'd going to wind up a step dad to some random crack baby Grace had when she ran away and joined the circus for all we know. Okay look I know she didn't join the circus as well as you do but I'm angry damnit! How could she do this to Luke again? I mean doesn't she have one decent moral fiber left in her being? I thought she had strong beliefs about right and fundamentally wrong? I feel like I'm being really hard on her but after everything that Luke went through, especially not long ago, I don't think he could take her leaving again. And who did she have a baby with anyway? How could Luke just not have a problem with that? Is she going to like bring this kid to our house? Is the kid somewhere in the city too? Like with her parents? How could she just spring this on us-,"

"JANE!" Adam stood up swiftly as he yelled loudly. Joan stopped and stared at Adam in shock. He promised Grace he wouldn't tell her secret, but that didn't mean he couldn't point Joan in the right direction. He slowly held the picture out to her. "You need to go home and talk to Grace about this. There are a few things you don't understand."

Joan smirked and scoffed. She crossed her arms after she put the picture away. "She already left. What could she possibly have to explain? She had a kid and she's looking for pity."

"No…" Adam closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was hard to bite his tongue and not just tell her. "Jane, you just have to trust me. Go home, and talk to Luke then. He'll explain what you don't understand. You've only got part of the story."

"What could the other 'part' of the story be?" Joan's face fell. "You don't supposed someone…you know…did something to her against her own will and-,"

"No, Jane," Adam's frustration skyrocketed.

"Then what? She's back to tell Luke her life's all dandy now and she's like married with a baby? What a bitchy-,"

"Jane, he's not a baby, he's 5 and he's Luke's son too!" Adam finally spit out. His eyes widened as much as Joan's did. Her mouth dropped open and Adam cringed. He hadn't meant to tell her, but in typical Joan fashion she was taking things the wrong way and getting totally whacked out of her mind. Grace was going to be pissed at him, but Joan was going to find out eventually.

"W…What did you say?" Joan's voice came out just above a whisper.

"Just, Jane you need to go home and talk to Luke…or Grace," Adam told her. "You need to hear it from them, not me."

* * *

Joan's shock was so mind numbing that Adam led her out to her car and drove her home. He led her back into the kitchen and sat her at the table. He could hear movement from the upstairs so he made his way to the steps and began to climb them. He knew Grace wasn't there because he'd spotted her note on the refrigerator. Once at the top of the steps he turned and went for Luke's door. As he knocked on the door her heard Joan's door click open from behind him. 

"Hey Adam," Wyatt smiled as he emerged from Joan's room in his work attire.

"Hey," Adam gave a slight nod to Wyatt. Adam and Wyatt were co-workers in the same advertising firm. Adam worked in the graphic design department, compiling digital images, commercial storyboards, and mock-ups for the firm and Wyatt worked in the video department producing commercials after they've been filmed. Joan had come to the office for one of her and Adam's weekly platonic lunch dates almost 18 months ago and Adam had introduced Wyatt and Joan, earning Wyatt an invitation to lunch and Joan's phone number. They'd been dating ever since.

"What are you doing here?" Wyatt asked as he neared the stairs.

"It's a long story. Luke and Joan need to talk," Adam sighed. "Tell Alex I'll be in a little late today."

"She's going to go ballistic on your ass, man," Wyatt warned.

"I know. Just, take care of it for me okay?" Adam asked.

Wyatt nodded. "I'll call you at 10 if you're not in, bro," Wyatt headed down the steps to say goodbye to Joan. Adam knocked on Luke's door. When he received no answer, he opened the door and looked in. Luke was nowhere to be found. Adam sighed and looked at his watch. Luke liked to go to the lab when he couldn't sleep; no doubt he'd already left.

"I'm going to get ready and go to work,"

Adam turned around to see Joan heading into her room. "Jane," He said.

"Adam…please. I need some time to think," Joan said slowly. "I'm sorry I woke you."

"It's okay," Adam assured. He waited until Joan had gone into her room and shut the door behind her before he let himself out. He made his way back home to shower and change so he could make it to work on time.

* * *

**August 21st, 2012 Tuesday 12:00pm **

"Hey, where you going to for lunch?" Wyatt called as he caught up with Adam in the lobby of their office building.

"I'm not going for lunch. I have something to take care of," Adam explained.

"Hey does this have anything to do with J?" Wyatt asked. "She was acting really strange this morning.

"I can't really explain right now, Wyatt," Adam hailed a cab.

"Does it have to do with that Grace chick?" Wyatt asked. Adam only offered a nod before climbing in the cab. Grace had told him where she was staying, so he decided to head there to try and figure out how to sort everything out.

During the short ride there, Adam let the past few years roll through his mind. He and Joan had tried dating again but by the time they had felt comfortable enough to try again, they were already to the point where they felt too much like close friends-almost siblings-to make it work. Adam had had two steady girlfriends in the four years since then but it never felt right. He had been starting to feel like he was destined to live alone working for his firm and doing his real art in his spare time forever with no one else but friends, when he'd met Adri. She'd been an intern for a company that his firm was working with on an advertising campaign. All through out the semester he had seen her rushing about doing their gopher work picking up samples and papers and carting them back and forth. Finally, when her semester was over, he'd contacted her through the cell phone number she'd left to contact her in case of emergency with the campaign and had asked her on a date. They'd been dating for a few months now.

"That's $8.65 mister," The cab driver broke Adam's thoughts.

Adam shook his head and handed the man fifteen dollars, wondering how his mind had gone from thinking about how to patch things up between everyone to thinking about Adri. Maybe it was because he knew Adri would know what to do and say to salvage the situation. She had such a way with words that Adam often wondered why, exactly, she had gone for the world of sales and marketing instead of something having to do with writing like journalism, or something of the like, since she enjoyed writing more then phone calls and finagling.

"Can I help you, sir?" Elsa, the woman at the front desk asked when Adam approached her.

"I need to know what room Grace Polk is staying in?" Adam replied.

Elsa's fingers tapped quickly against the computer keyboard before she replied. "Oh, I'm sorry sir, it seems she's checked out early," The woman smiled.

Adam stared at her. "What? That can't be. What time did she check out?"

"According to this about an hour ago," Elsa looked at the screen.

* * *

**August 21st, 2012 Tuesday 12:45pm **

"Mommy!"

Grace looked up as she approached the bottom of Chelsea's porch steps just in time to open her arms and catch Stone, who'd spotted her from the living room and proceeded to run outside and leap from the top step. Grace lost her balance and fell back as she caught him. He spoke a mile a minute as Grace tried to recover. Stone hugged her and then sat back on her stomach, trapping her to listen to his stories. Grace pulled her knees up for him to lean back on and propped herself up on her elbows.

"Jade, she ate a whole ton of cookies and she ran around too much and then she got sick and it was all over everything!" Stone cheered happily.

"Oh she did, did she?" Grace smiled as Stone nodded enthusiastically.

"Welcome home," Chelsea came to the top of the porch steps. "You're back earlier than expected. Come on in, we're just about ready for grilled cheese."

Grace smiled. She gathered Stone up in her arms and climbed to her feet, following Chelsea inside. "What can I say? I couldn't stay away any longer."

"Because you missed me, right mommy?" Stone had a firm grip with one arm around Grace's neck as she carried him.

"That's right, kiddo," Grace affirmed, but Chelsea had heard the underlying sadness in Grace's voice.

"Okay you three, into the living room. Eat at the coffee table, not on the couch," She handed each of the three kids a plate with a grilled cheese sandwich, a juice box, and two chocolate chip cookies each. All three of them obeyed readily. "Now you…sit down and tell me what happened," She ordered to Grace as she began making them sandwiches too. Grace sighed and came up with a lame excuse for why it wasn't important before changing the subject to how Stone behaved for the past couple of days.

**

* * *

August 21st, 2012, Tuesday, 10:45pm**

Grace was just lying back tiredly in her bed getting ready to tune into the news before bed when Stone's face appeared through the half-open door. Grace turned her head and watched him for a minute. He stared at her curiously before yawning.

"And what are you doing awake?" Grace tried to hide a smirk as she spoke.

Stone inched through the doorway cautiously. He remained quiet and Grace grew concerned. She sat up slightly.

"Did you have another bad dream?" She asked. Stone shook his head. Grace finally relented. She knew what he wanted. She reached her hand out and pulled the covers back some. "Come on," She patted the bed. Yep, that was it. Stone's pace quickened. He crossed the room and climbed up onto the bed with her. Grace opened her arms and let him situated himself.

"What are you watching?" He asked her.

Grace picked up the remote and changed the channel. "I think I could go for some cartoons, how about you?" She looked down at him. Stone nodded enthusiastically. He put his head down on her left shoulder and kept his eyes fixed on the screen. Grace curled her left arm around him and pulled the covers up. She watched him and let her hand absently lull through his short messed hair, processing the past few days in her brain.

"What would you say if I told you we had some time to go on vacation?" Grace finally asked.

Stone turned his attention to his mom, looking up at her. "Like Jade and Pierce did?" Grace nodded. "Where would we go mommy?"

"Where would you want to go?" Grace replied. She was waiting for the obvious answer; Disney world. He'd wanted to go there since June, when Jade and Pierce came back and told him all about it. Then again, he hadn't brought it up since the end of July.

Stone was silent for a moment. He was deep in thought. "Can we go anywhere?" Grace nodded again. Stone stared at Grace for a moment, trying to decipher if she was telling the truth. After he'd decided she was, he answered. "Can we go where daddy is?"

Grace paused, thrown only a little off guard. Stone stared at her, anxious to hear her reply. Grace pressed her lips together in thought. She nodded slowly. "Sure we can," She offered a smile and dropped a kiss on the top of his head. Stone grinned broadly and turned his attention back to the cartoon. Grace sighed softly; at least it was what Stone wanted too.

_

* * *

This time, this place/Misused, mistakes/Too long, too late/Who was I to make you wait/Just one chance/Just one breath/Just in case there's just one left/Cause you know, you know, you know/That I love you/I have loved you all along/And I missed you/Been far away for far too long/I keep dreaming you'll be with me/And you'll never go/Stop breathing if/I don't see you anymore/On my knees, I'll ask/Last chance for one last dance/Cause with you, I'd withstand/All of hell to hold your hand/I'd give it all/I'd give for us/Give anything but I won't give up/Cause you know, you know, you know/ That I love you/I have loved you all along/And I missed you/Been far away for far too long/I keep dreaming you'll be with me/And you'll never go/Stop breathing if/I don't see you anymore/So far away/Been far away for far too long/So far away/Been far away for far too long/But you know, you know, you know/I wanted/I wanted you to stay/Cause I needed/I need to hear you say/That I love you/I have loved you all along/And I forgive you/For being away for far too long/So keep breathing/Cause I'm not leaving/Hold on to me and/Never let me go…_

**

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A/N: Okay, since I neglected the fact that all of you aren't in my head it should be noted that in the last chapter the reason that you didn't see Luke saying "I want to meet him" was because you entered the scene almost two hours after they started talking about him. I figured that would have been an obvious question that he would have asked right away, sooo; I left that with the other obvious questions in the first part of their argument that we didn't see. Did that make sense? **

**Chapter title is from "Far Away" by Nickelback.**

**Responses: Sam – **Thanks. About Joan, I have my reasons. I swear. I love dogs. I do change Grace, mostly because the plot kind of requires it. I get ahead of myself sometimes and go overboard. But if you think about it, everything about Grace was a façade built up to protect herself, mostly. Thanks for the yell, consider me in check dude!

**Butterfly Dancing – **Sorry about your internet, yo. Hope the tests came out okay. What can I say? I wanted Grace to make a crack in there too, lol. There's a lot more to come between Joan and Grace. Luke's going to meet Stone soon, don't worry. Thanks again dude!

**TJ-TeeJay – **Yeah he was a softy. The reason I did the dinner thing was because I thought after all the time, Luke would still be desperate not to lose Grace if she ever came back, so, eh? MACs are better than PCs for everything that's not word processing, heh. Also, 90-some percent of viruses are made to attack windows, so a MAC would be better for Luke's work! Ha! It's amazing the difference between a PC and a MAC graphics wise too. See my first author's note for the response to asking about Stone. You need to update your story again lol. I need to know what happens! Thanks again dude!

**Annieca – **I'm glad you understand why I made Joan angry. There's actually more to it then just anger but that needs to be explained. Hey, Skillet's a cool name! Thanks on the video part. When you say 'other than these points keep writing' what do you mean? Thanks again for the reviews. )

**Kool-Wolf – **Dude! That was long, you're just addicted! I didn't do anything to Joan! She's so absorbed in the anger for a good reason. (There are actually a couple of solid clues in the story as to why too.) And that's not counting the fact that she felt like Grace abandoned her too! Ahem, anyway. Hate you back, violence to you!

**Sayxanything – **Hahaha, Joan was a bit of a lion…yes. Come on she has good reason to be! Grace is all about trying to hide how she really feels to make things less harsh, which of course always backfires. Dude you need to update by the way. Anywho, late rove!

**Tiff – **New words? Hm, yah I don't have any heh. You…need…to…update. I've given up on advertising; I don't think anyone else is willing my friend. Your thing is fixed you need to update! Later geek!

**

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Note: If anyone happens to have any interest in the RP, go to my bio and email me. Don't be afraid. We're just monkeying around. It doesn't take up as much time as some people seem to be thinking it does either. )**


	7. I Owe You One

**Disclaimer:** 'Nough said  
**A/N:** Sorry for any typos, feel free to let me know about them as I didn't proofread this chapter since it took so long!  
**P.S. – TIFF AND TRACE THERE'S AND EXTRA SCENE AT THE END YOU DIDN'T READ, FYI.**

**

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Chapter 6 – I Owe You One**

**August 23rd, Thursday, 9:30am**

"How long have you been here?"

Luke listed, startled by the sound and presence of another human being in the lab. He rubbed his face with the back of his hand and tried to think of the answer. "Few hours," He finally mumbled.

"You're entirely way too dedicated, a full-on insomniac or you're just a little on the obsessed side, I can't decide which," The other woman smirked as she pulled her lab coat on. Felicity Mungo had been Luke's partner since he'd started his research on Leukemia nearly 4 years ago. She was older than him by 7 years, and often brought Luke to a conclusion on stalled subjects by bringing him an existential opinion instead of his tried and true usual points of view. She once walked to the corner of the room and stood on her head, leaning against the wall until she came up with a solution to a deadlocked problem. Thankfully she'd managed to tell him the solution before the blood had rushed to her head and she'd passed out.

"All of the above at this point," Luke muttered, leaning in to look closely into the microscope in front of him.

"So…" Felicity snapped on some purple colored latex gloves, walked over to a refrigerated storage section containing shelves of blood vials and various chemical compound. She located a specific set of vials and carefully picked them up, then she turned around and went to a lab table that was across from Luke's. "How're you feeling?"

"I'm fine. Just got a lot on my mind," Luke worked as he spoke. He knew all too well the dangers of looking someone in the face when they started 20 questions. He was hoping to avoid all of that after explaining to Felicity yesterday about how he'd found out about Stone.

Felicity nodded as her hands worked at her task, mixing chemicals and using a dropper to put splotches on slides so she could view them through her microscope lens. "How'd the blood work turn out?" She added casually.

"Hasn't come back yet," Luke's voice remained passive. He hated this subject. He hated people prying into this subject. He cleared his throat just slightly and Felicity backed off-but only for a few minutes.

"It's all right you know," She glanced at him, "To be worried about their outcome."

Luke stood abruptly. The wheels of his chair scraped against the floor as it wheeled backwards and stopped just short of slamming into the desk behind Luke's. "I haven't gotten anything to eat yet. I'm going to go get some breakfast. You want coffee or anything?" He hazarded a glance at Felicity and quickly looked away, pretending to busy himself with removing his lab coat and gloves when he saw the worried gaze on her face.

"No," Felicity shook her head cautiously.

"Back in a bit," Luke spun on his heel and left the lab. He felt guilty for somewhat nappy at Felicity, but he wasn't ready to share his anxiety with Felicity.

**

* * *

August 23rd, Thursday, 9:45am**

"Okay kid, out of bed with you," Grace pulled back the covers of her bed, where she'd left Stone sleeping almost three hours before, and reached a hand in to tickle Stone. She knew he was pretending to still be asleep. Unable to hold in his laughter, Stone rolled back and forth trying to evade Grace's grasp to no avail. Soon Grace had crawled onto the bed, still tickling Stone and began diving in to plant a kiss on his cheek or in the crook of his neck to add to the torture. Soon Grace couldn't hold her laughter in either and her motions ceased.

"I was already awake, mommy," Stone stuttered through his remaining giggles.

"You had me fooled," Grace assured, causing Stone to laugh again. "You slept pretty late today, do you feel all right?" Her motherly concerned kicked in as she brushed his hair out of his face, nonchalantly rolling the back of her hand over his forehead to see if he felt warm.

"No, I'm fine mommy," Stone smiled up at her. "I was just sleepy," He promised.

Grace nodded. "Well," She got off the bed and held her arms out for him. "Come on, let's get you changed so we can start packing for you."

"What about packing your stuff?" Stone asked as he strode easily across the bed and climbed into Grace's arms.

"I, packed while you snored," Grace scrunched up her face as she teased him, walking with him on her hip to his room.

"Nu-UH!" Stone protested, clamoring down and over to the suitcase Grace had placed on his bed.

"You think I'm lying to you?" Grace mocked, her hands on her hips.

"Mommy I don't snore!" Stone argued.

"Oh no?" Grace raised an eyebrow in fake suspicion as she knelt down and sat back against her feet in front of Stone's dresser. "How do you know?"

"I listened!" Stone crossed his arms adamantly, inching towards Grace when she opened his top drawer and started rifling through his clothes.

"How did you listen?" Grace questioned, pulling out some underwear and socks before moving on to the net drawer.

"I stayed up and listened mommy," Stone rolled his eyes flopped down next to Grace, who as momentarily thrown off-guard by the way the gesture made Stone resemble Grace just slightly. She shook her head and tried to come up with a comeback but gave up when Stone stopped her from grabbing T-shirts. "Can I wear this one when we go to see Daddy?" He stared up at her. His finger pointed to his favorite T-shirt. Grace couldn't help the small smirk that spread across her space. How ironic it would be when Luke met Stone for the first time and Stone was wearing a dark blue T-shirt with cartoon stars and the moon surrounding a miniature moon as a rocket ship blasted off through the galaxy with speed streaks shooting out like lightening shaped fingers from the back of the ship.

"Sure you can," Grace pulled out the T-shirt and sat it on her curled knee before gathering a few other shirts for Stone to pack. "Do you want to pick out your shorts too?" She questioned, opening the next drawer. In her younger days, which weren't that very long ago, Grace would have made a crack about the clothes being for a midget upon seeing the little shorts folded and neatly placed inside the drawer, almost as if they were being held captive; perhaps an actor from a Wizard of Oz stage production owned them.

"These ones," Stone nodded.

"Okay short stuff, off with the jammys, on with the day clothes," Grace motioned for Stone to stand up. The little boy did so. He tugged a few times and then dispensed with his shirt. Grace knew Stone could put his own clothes on, but she was trying to make quick work of it, so she readied the shirt and pulled it over is head, letting him stuff his arms through and yank it down. Afterwards, he sat down and pulled his pajama pants off. He carefully slipped his legs into his shorts before standing up and pulling them to his waist. Grace watched his slightly pudgy little fingers as they easily mastered the zipper and then fumbled to push the metal button through its hole on the waistline of the tan khaki shorts Stone had decided on. After another few moments Grace reached out to help him.

"There we go," Grace buttoned the pants. "Go get your shoes from the cubby," She stood from her spot and carried the other clothes to the suitcase. Without a word, Stone strode over to his closet, which had no doors, just cubbies full of various items, and a space to hang some nicer clothes. After placing the clothes as neatly and space saving as possible into the suitcase, Grace eyed Stone. He sat down on the floor and tugged his untied sneakers on. They looked like vans or airwalks, but were really just cheap knock offs from Payless. Why buy expensive shoes when he was just going to wear them down and grow out o them anyhow at this point?

Grace had been expecting him to trod over to her and ask for help tying his shoes, but he remained still, staring at the untied laces. He looked almost like a statue, a gargoyle even, staring forlornly down at his shoes as if it was the bustling city street bellow and he was stuck atop the rainy roof top.

"Stone?" Grace put the last of Stone's shirts down in the suitcase and took a step towards him. The little boy let out a sniffle. Grace crossed to him and sat down on the floor next to him, placing a soothing hand on his back. "What's wrong?" Stone's only response was to suck in a breath and sniffle again. Grace rubbed her hand in circles on Stone's back. "Hey, come on now, it's okay," She tried to assure him. "Tell me what's wrong?"

Slowly, Stone turned his head up to look at her. His whole body jerked as he sniffled through a deep breath. He stuttered out the beginnings of what sounded like a question to Grace before he finally compiled the words into an audible string of words.

"W-," He wavered, "What if he doesn't like me?"

Grace felt her mouth hanging open after her brain fully comprehended the question while Stone's eyes leaked. She fought off the shock, and tried to manage the guilt welling inside her.

"Come here," She helped Stone into her lap, dropping a kiss to the top of his head. "He's going to love you…I promise."

"But…" Stone tried to suck back all the loose snot in his nose that was building from the tears draining through his tear ducts into his nasal cavity like water rushing down a sewer pipe. "But what if he never came to visit cause…cause he wouldn't like me?" Stone continued, burying his face into her T-shirt.

Grace pressed her lips together so tightly it hurt, and clenched her eyes shut as she cradled Stone against her. She brushed his hair back and turned his head to look at her. She pressed her forehead to his and wiped at his cheeks and nose.

"Listen to me, okay? Are you listening?" She questioned. Stone nodded slowly as Grace used her clean hand to caress his face, thumbing at the random teardrops. "It's my fault that Daddy never came to visit," Grace felt her chin waver as she spoke. "It has nothing to do with you, I promise. You'll see, he's going to love you so much you won't even know what to do."

Stone seemed to calm down with Grace's reassurance. He rested his head on her shoulder and they sat still together for a long few minutes. Finally, Grace wiped off her own cheeks and patted Stone's back.

"Come on, we should get moving," She gave a tight-lipped smile. "Stand up and let me tie those shoes." Stone obliged and Grace made quick work of his laces. She gave a light pat to one of his feet when she was done. "Go get bark from my room okay?"

Stone nodded and darted out of the room, having recovered his excitement. Grace wiped at her face one last time before gathering the last of the items Stone would need and organizing them in the suitcase. She zipped it shut and brought it into the hallway as Stone was trotting back towards her.

"You go on downstairs and watch some cartoons-do not answer the door, okay?" Grace instructed. Stone nodded before continuing on his way. Grace headed for her room to make her bed and make sure she had everything she needed after listening for the TV to turn on and the tell tale sound effects of cartoons to emanate from the downstairs.

**

* * *

August 23, 2012, Thursday, 3pm**

"I think I'm going to head home early," Luke spoke as he stood with his worn in black computer bag. It didn't really hold a computer, but it looked cool and professional, so Luke had taken to using it to carry his notes and files back and forth.

Felicity glanced up at him. It had been the first phrase either of them had uttered to each other after their little discussion earlier in the morning. She nodded, glancing around at the other lab assistants and scientists occupying the room now, preparing for the evening shift. She nodded in response to Luke quickly.

"Okay. You should get some sleep," Felicity suggested.

Luke hesitated to leave. He stepped a few feet closer to Felicity's lab table and leaned over it, lowering his tone. "Look," He thought about his words, clearly uncomfortable. "I'm sorry about earlier, it's just there's a lot going on right now and I don't have time to think about-,"

"It's all right Luke," Felicity cut across his word and offered a warm grin. "I wouldn't want to share it with everyone either," She assured. Luke watched her for another moment, still feeling guilty. "Go, get out of here, workaholic."

Luke turned and made his way out of the building. He located his car and opened the back door on the passenger side. He tossed his bag onto the seat and reached a hand up shut the door when the ground became shaky. Luke steadied himself by grabbing onto the roof of the car with his right arm. He brought his left hand up to his forehead and clenched his eyes shut, breathing deep breaths. After a few seconds the dizziness and the jab of pain that shot through his brain dissipated. Luke gave a firm shake of his head before regaining his composure and shutting the back door. He climbed in the car, turned it on and pulled out of his spot.

**

* * *

August 23, 2012, Thursday, 3:45pm**

Luke had just pulled into the driveway and grabbed his bag when his cell phone began to buzz. Luke reached into his pocket tiredly and pulled the phone out. He looked at the screen, trying to discern if he knew the number or not. He hated answering his phone when he didn't know the number. It was usually some telemarketer that hung up before he could say 'take me off your list' or it was a machine that waited until you said 'hello' twice to start spewing it's stupid sales pitch.

Giving up on caring whether or not this was a computer or telemarketer, Luke snapped his thumb down on the 'answer' button and lifted the phone to his ear. "If this is a telemarketer take me off the list," He issued his preemptive strike.

A small snort came through the phone and Luke stopped in front of the door to his house. "Don't worry, I'm not trying to sell you anything," Grace's voice came filtering through the earpiece.

"Uh, Grace," Luke cleared his throat and grabbed his mail before entering the house. Skillet rushed towards him, issuing a few jumps and excited barks before turning tail and running to the kitchen for the back door. "I wasn't expecting to hear from you so, so soon," Luke tried to recover as he sauntered through the house to the kitchen where Skillet was wagging his tail so hard that his whole body shook. He looked from the door to Luke and back again, panting. Luke reached out and opened the door and then the screen door for the dog and Skillet promptly took off into the yard. At the back of the yard was a rectangular shaped rounded stone pit. Luke had taught Skillet early on to do his business in there instead of on the lawn.

"Yeah," Grace cleared her throat. "I figured you waited longer than you should have. Besides, Stone's anxious to finally meet you."

Luke let out a shaky breath. He was petrified of the moment when he would get to meet Stone face to face instead of staring at pictures and the compiled video. To know that it was going to happen sooner rather than later made Luke's heart speed up. "I'm anxious to meet him too," He knew it was an obvious statement but he said it anyway. "When are you two coming to town?" He added.

"About two hours ago," Grace supplied.

"You're already here?" Luke replied.

Grace held back a chortle of laughter. "I would have called sooner but I figured you were working, and I would wait until it was closer to 5. I called your office, but they said you left already."

"Yeah…I went in petty early, so I left early," Luke explained though he knew he didn't need to. "Where are you guys staying?"

"We're staying at Rove's. He demanded it actually. He's not home yet though. He just left a key for us under the mat." Grace explained.

Luke moved on to a different topic, out of curiosity and apprehension. "Does he think I abandoned you both?" He blurted.

"What?" Grace's shock removed all possible responses save for that one.

"Stone…does he, I mean…does he think I'm awful and I left you because I didn't love you or something?" Luke did his best to clarify his question.

"No, Luke," Grace sighed softly. "No. I told him it was my fault that you'd never met, and it had nothing to do with not loving anyone," She quickly changed the subject. "Anyway, we're thinking of heading for an early dinner. Maybe some pizza or something quick. Afterwards we could stop by…if you're not busy doing anything that is, unless you want to wait until tomorrow o-or the weekend so you're more, prepared or…whatever."

"No, no, after you eat is fine with me. Do you need a ride or anything?" Luke stammered; was this really going to happen so soon? "I, uh, is there something I should do, or, like…say specifically?"

"Relax," Grace spoke calmly, despite the fact that she was a nervous wreck inside. This had been building for 6 years now. "It's going to be fine. You'll both hit it off instantly, I assure you. You're pretty much the same person, just different ages," She almost chuckled.

Luke sighed. "Okay," He still sounded nervous. "Okay."

"I'll call you when we're on our way over okay?" Grace suggested.

"Yeah, sure, okay," Luke nodded, despite being on the phone. "That's, that's perfect."

"See you later, Luke," Grace waited for Luke to say goodbye before they both hung up.

**

* * *

August 23rd, 2012 Thursday, 4:30pm**

Joan was just getting together to leave work when the phone on her desk rang.

"Joan Girardi, proof editor extraordinaire," Joan answered sarcastically, thinking it was Kayleigh, calling again from downstairs to send up another proof when Joan was so close to getting out early.

"And that's not all you're extraordinary at," A gruff voice replied on the phone.

Joan squealed in embarrassment and covered her mouth as she laughed at herself upon hearing Wyatt's voice on the other end of the line. "Wyatt! You never call my work phone," She chided him. Her smile waned. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothings wrong, not at all," Wyatt assured with a chortle. "Unless, of course you turn me down."

"Turn you down for what?" Joan replied, straightening up her desk and leaving herself a few post-its for tomorrow.

"Dinner," Wyatt answered. "It would be devastating if you said no, seeing as I'm already outside, waiting at your car."

Joan stopped and turned in her chair, rolling to the window. She moved the blinds and looked out towards her car. Sure enough, Wyatt sat on the trunk, smiling and waving to her. Joan waved slowly to him before returning to her desk.

"So, what do you say?" Wyatt asked.

Joan smiled to herself. Despite her fatigue, she decided hunger and the want to spend time alone with Wyatt outweighed going home and dissolving into a bubble bath with a book and the radio on. "Give me 5 minutes and I'll be right out."

"I'll be waiting," Wyatt hung up.

**

* * *

5pm**

"Hey," Luke fidgeted when he opened the door to see Grace standing there by herself. He looked around her curiously.

"He's hiding," Grace didn't turn her head. "Behind the tree in your front yard," She lowered her voice. "He's a little spooked. If you watch, he'll peek his head out," Grace smirked. "I told him I would come knock for you and let him know if it was okay to come up."

Luke glanced over Grace's right shoulder to the large tree in the yard. Sure enough after a second or two, an ear, part of an eyeball and the edge of a little boy's forehead inched over just barely in view. Grace watched Luke's Adam's apple bob as he swallowed hard at the mere glimpse.

Grace offered up a sad half smile. She took Luke's face in her hands and directed his line of sigh to her face. "I'm going to go tell him it's okay, think you can handle that?" She let go of Luke's face.

"Y-yeah," He nodded. Grace turned to head off the porch but Luke caught her by the arm. She turned and looked at him. "No, I mean…no, I don't think I'm ready," He shook his head.

Grace studied Luke for a moment. He was fidgeting and nervous, almost sweating, and staring off at the tree. She could see his pulse pounding in the vein in his neck and knew that his heart had rapidly sped up. She pursed her lips together and nodded before giving him a pat on the shoulder.

"Breathe, geek…you'll be fine," She turned and stepped out of his grasp and then down the steps. Luke watched her approach the tree. Once there, Grace crouched down and reached out for Stone's shoulders; he was still obstructed from Luke's view. Luke felt his eyes burn. His throat went dry.

"Are you okay?" Grace lifted her hand from Stone's shoulder and placed it on the side of his face. She frowned when she realized he was shaking. "It's all right, Stone, he's just as worried as you," She assured. Grace leaned forward and kissed Stone's forehead. "I'll be with you the whole time," She stood up and held her hand out to him. "Come on," She nodded her head towards the walkway.

Luke's muscles tightened and his fidgeting ceased as Grace and Stone made it to the walkway and he now had a clear view of the little boy, Stone; his son. Luke blinked rapidly a few times, wondering if this past week had been some weird dream. The closer Grace and Stone inched, the more real the situation became.

Grace had been right, Stone looked like a miniature version of Luke, minus glasses. Luke already knew that his own baby pictures could be mistaken as Stone's, but seeing him in person was so different. When they reached the top step, Stone hovered next to Grace, leaning slightly as if he was ready to duck behind Grace, like she was the tree he was hiding behind. Grace used Stone's hand to guide him in front of her.

She leaned down to talk close to his ear. "Go ahead, say hello," Grace gave Stone's back a tiny tap. As she stood back up, she watched Luke crouch down stiffly to Stone's level. Her own eyes felt as wavering as she could see Luke's were.

Luke coughed and cleared his throat slightly. "Hey Stone, I'm Luke," He extended his right and to the little boy, realizing that reaching out to draw the boy into a hug like he wanted to would only scare him more.

Stone shook his head, looking confused. "No you're not," He frowned.

Luke glanced at Grace, who looked puzzled and then shifted his gaze back to Stone. "I'm not?" He asked. Stone shook his head. "Who am I?"

"Daddy," Stone answered quickly, easily, as if Luke should have known this. Luke stared at Stone blankly for a second. Grace covered her mouth to keep from interrupting them. She felt hot liquid of her stray tears as they slid down and collided with the side of her hand. She quickly wiped them away before setting her jaw and raising her eyes to the sky to stem the flood. Luke was close to spilling over his own tears. He nodded.

"You're right…I'm sorry," He nodded. He smiled widely at Stone's T-shirt. "That's a cool shirt you've got there," His voice sounded awkward, rippling with emotion.

Stone grinned proudly. "I made this star a black whole with mommy's marker," He pointed his finger to a start that had a big black circle colored over it in what had probably been a sharpie.

Luke smiled. "That's smart of you," He nodded.

Without warning to either of them, Stone stepped forward and threw his arms around Luke's neck, standing on his tiptoes to do so. Luke wavered, thrown off by the suddenness, but his arms easily circled around the small boy's body, pulling him close. That was all it took for Luke to lose it, his eyes leaking down his cheeks.

"Don't cry daddy, it's okay," Stone put his head down on Luke's shoulder. Luke lifted his eyes to look at Grace. She was trying to smile as her own tears started rolling.

After a long few minutes, Luke stood, gathering Stone with him. He sniffled and used a free hand to dry his face. "Why don't we go inside? I have some ice cream?" He looked at Stone for the last suggestion.

Stone looked over at Grace imploringly. Grace nodded, drying her face with he hands. Stone turned back to Luke and nodded, hooking his arm around Luke's neck. Grace followed them inside, shutting the door behind her.

**

* * *

6:59pm**

Most of dinner was spent with Joan venting her frustration. Wyatt listened patiently and interjected witty remarks as Joan told him all about Grace-more so than the bits and pieces he knew already. She explained how she'd found out about her nephew and how angry she was. She also almost broke down on their way to the car after dinner, confessing how awful she felt for screaming at Grace and treating her awfully.

Joan had been waiting so long for Grace to return, that she hadn't counted on her anger to boil to the surface so easily. In her mind's eye, Joan had always pictured the reunion to be filled with hugs and smiles and laughter and apologies. But time coupled with pain and suffering and watch Luke morph into an unrecognizable person, before he'd finally came back to reality and returned to a somewhat normal version of himself, had not been a steady healer. No, instead Joan had grown angrier and angrier the more she had thought about Grace in recent years.

And now, to learn what a monumental secret Grace had kept from the-the years she'd stolen right out from under their noses-well, was that really forgivable? Could Joan really just let it go because Grace was sorry? Was 'sorry' ever good enough when it came to situations like these?

"Sounds like someone's over," Wyatt said as he followed Joan inside the front door. Joan nodded, hearing the laughter.

"Yeah, I wonder who-," Joan stopped dead when she Saw Grace reaching the bottom of the steps. "What are you doing here?" Her mind focused in on Grace and nothing else.

Grace was frozen. She didn't want to do this again with Joan. She wanted to find an explanation, an excuse-anything-to make Joan understand that what she had done had punished her just as much as it punished Joan and Luke and everyone else.

"Girardi, I…we, I just-,"

"Get out of my house. You don't deserve to be here," Joan's voice grew cold and stony.

"Why don't we all take a deep breath and go sit down, talk, have a drink?" Wyatt tried to play peacekeeper. Joan and Grace both glared at him. Wyatt put his hands up in defense. "Sorry…never mind…" He tried to back away.

"You…have got some nerve do you know that?" Joan demanded, glaring at Grace. "You just up and leave when the slightest little thing happens and then you cover up this, this, this-,"

"Girardi, wait," Grace was aware of Joan's voice rising and she didn't want to involve Stone in this, to make him scared of his aunt.

"This astronomical secret that affect and involves all of us, and you just waltzed back in here like you're a tortured soul and so that just makes it all better?" Joan roared loudly. "Well news flash Grace-It doesn't work that way!"

"Joan!" Grace finally shouted. Joan stopped in her tracks at Grace's use of her first name. "It's fine if you want to scream at me, punch me, whatever you want to do, I don't care," Grace said calmly. She lowered her voice pointedly. "Please…don't do it in front of your nephew…"

Joan froze as Grace averted her eyes downward. She followed Grace's line of vision and discovered a small face peeking out from a few paces behind Grace. He was peering up at Joan with a tentative, cautious look on his small face; the picture perfect match to Luke when he was little. His big eyes stared at her, wondering if he should step closer or back away. Not far behind him, Luke stood, eyeing up the situation. Joan's chin quavered and her eyes filled. The anger filtered out of her. She couldn't think of anything to yell at Grace that she already hadn't, and she didn't want to scare the little boy.

Joan turned her eyes to Grace. Grace nodded, understanding. "Go ahead…he knows," She said softly.

Joan inched forward, stopping to kneel in front of Stone. Joan had been too afraid to talk to Luke after she found out. She didn't know her nephew's name, or anything about him other than he looked like Luke, except for the arched eyebrow he was donning curiously at the moment, which resembled Grace remarkably.

"Hi," Stone's voice was cautious.

"Hey there," Joan smiled through her watery eyes. "I-I'm Joan," She pointed to herself with her hands.

"I know," Stone nodded, feeling more confident.

Joan looked at him. She opened her mouth to speak, but Grace, realizing now that Joan was clueless, spoke up first.

"Stone and I were just visiting town so he could meet everyone," Grace acted like she was explaining it to Wyatt, who just looked confused, but Joan knew better. She closed her eyes and wiped her face.

"Don't cry," Joan opened her eyes when Stone's little hands wiped at her face.

**

* * *

9pm**

"I should get him back to Rove's so he can sleep in a bed," Grace spoke when an awkward silence had fallen over the group now sitting in the living room.

They had gathered in the living room to talk and sort things out. Stone had fallen asleep in Luke's lap. Joan had sat next to Luke, the two of them played with Stone all night while talking.

"Do you have to?" Luke questioned sadly, looking down at Stone.

Grace nodded slowly. "Rove's letting us stay…and he hasn't gotten to meet Stone either," She felt uncomfortable under Joan's gaze, fearing another outburst. Luke nodded. He stood, cradling Stone with him.

"I'll drive you," He spoke softly. Grace nodded, too drained to decline. She turned to Wyatt.

"Nice to um, see you again," Grace looked at Joan. "I'll stop by on my own and you can finish your screaming." Grace moved to follow Luke, who was already outside.

"Grace, wait…" Joan jumped up and maneuvered around the couch to stop Grace.

"Girardi, really-,"

Joan cut Grace off by pulling her into a tight hug. Grace stood still, unsure what to do.

"I'm sorry," Joan finally said. Grace sputtered, unsure what to do next.

"I…know…" Grace nodded. "Me too…" She cleared her throat.

The two looked at each other awkwardly for a few seconds. "I should go," Grace started backing away, knowing that she and Joan weren't close to resolving their problems, but accepting that for tonight, they were closer to it then they had been.

"Don't make it 6 years next time," Joan called after her.

* * *

Luke stopped outside of Adam's house and put the car into park. He glanced at Grace before looking in the backseat at Stone's sleeping form. He frowned slightly, unable to look away. 

"I wish you could have stayed," He spoke quietly. Grace's ear had to strain to here.

"I know…I just, didn't know where we stood with everything going on," Grace's tone was equally quiet as she stared at her lap.

Luke watched Grace. He had been fighting the urge to hold her all night. He wanted to kiss her. He didn't care about the time he'd lost. He knew there was no way to get it back, and at least now he had them. He had to do anything and everything possible to keep them with him. Luke wondered briefly if his parents had felt this way. He mentally yelled at himself; of course they did, it was always evident that they did in the way they acted.

Before Luke could stop himself, he took Grace's face in his hands. They stared for a long few seconds at each other. Grace felt her throat go dry. She was yearning, near the brink of emotion death, just to push herself forward and envelope Luke in a kiss. She'd gotten the taste of him again when they'd gone to dinner and it had renewed the longing she'd been burying away for years. It felt warm in her stomach, burning up to her chest and through every part of her body.

"Luke…" It came out as a slight gasp. She didn't deserve this. Not after all this time and the treachery she'd committed.

But Luke was the daring one. He drew Grace to him and dropped his lips into hers. Even Grace had wanted to evade his kiss; she wouldn't have been able to. Instead she surrendered to it, melded her lips back to his, as if they'd just popped into the bio closet before school. It was nearly 5 minutes before Grace jerked away breathlessly.

"Grace-,"

"We-We can't do this," Grace shook her head adamantly.

"Why?" Luke replied as Grace fiddled with her seatbelt. Grace panicked. She fought to get her seatbelt buckle undone, tugging angrily at it until Luke stopped her. Grace put her hands over her face. This was not happening again.

"Grace…why? Why can't we start over, or pick up where we left off, something cliché like that?" Luke asked again. "I know you love me, Grace, I can see it. I can feel it. And you know damn well that I've always loved you. Why can't we be happy together?"

"Because I don't deserve this," Grace almost shouted at him. When she looked up she revealed her rapidly reddening eyes that were welling up. She glanced at Stone in the back seat before looking at Luke. "I don't deserve to be his mother. I don't deserve to just jump right back into everything's-perfect-life with you, and I don't deserve how well you're treating me."

Luke caught Grace's face in is hands again. "Stop it," He used his thumbs to wipe at a single tear traversing down her cheek. "My love is something you have always been deserving of. I'm tired of hearing all this self-deprecating crap. You screwed up, yes. We all know it, Grace. We've all screwed up. My brother screwed up when he got into Andy's car. Adam screwed up when he, well, screwed Bonnie. Joan screwed up…well, lots of times. And I…" Luke cut himself off with a sigh. "We've all screwed up, Grace. You've owned up to it. It's time to move on…however slowly you want to, it's still time to move on," He watched her carefully. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes. Grace let out a shaky breath and Luke leaned in for another kiss, though this time it was less intense. Grace looked down when they separated.

"I should…get him into a bed," She cleared her throat.

"Can I see you two tomorrow?" Luke asked as he helped Grace get Stone out of the car. Stone shifted some as Grace held him to the front of her. He dropped his wobbling head onto her shoulder and mumbled something about ducks before his breathing fell into rhythm again as Luke reached out a hand and ran it along Stone's back a few times.

Grace nodded. "Call me when you get off of work, or when you go to lunch," She looked up at him. "We're not going anywhere," She assured him. Luke nodded. "Goodnight, Luke."

Luke dropped a kiss on the back of Stone's head and then one on Grace's lips. "Thank you," He stated simply. Grace was too dumbfounded to say anything else. Instead, she headed up the steps and into Adam's house.

Luke waited until she was inside to get back in his car and head home reluctantly.

_When I lost faith, you believed in me/When I stumbled, you were right there/For every act of love you've done/I owe you one… / There were hard time, I know I survived/Just because you, stayed by my side/With all I have, with all I am/I promise you all my life/Whenever the road is too long/Whenever the wind is too strong/Wherever the journey may lead to/I will be there for you/I will be there for you/Through sorrow, or the darkest night/When there's heartache, deep down inside/Just like a prayer, you will be there/And I promise you all my life/ Whenever the road is too long/Whenever the wind is too strong/Wherever the journey may lead to/I will be there for you/Oh, I will be there/ Whenever the road is too long/Whenever the wind is too strong/Wherever the journey may lead to/I will be there for you/Oh yes, I will be there for you/I'll always be there…_

**

* * *

A/N: Phew…that took a lot of writer's block to get out of me, so I'm sorry if it blew chunks!**

**Chapter title is from "I Will Be There for You" by Jessica Andrews**

**Responses: Butterfly Dancing – **Sorry to keep you waiting so long! Good job on the B's! Stone's a genius, ha! You probably love it as much as I do! If you have an idea of what happened to Luke e-mail it to me (or stick it in a review if you really want) I'm asking certain people if they've picked up on the clues or not, let me know what your clues were and what you think is wrong with him! (I won't confirm or deny unless you want me to!) Much love!

**TJ-TeeJay – **I'm heading over to read your updates after I post this! Background info is my favorite sometimes. It puts you further into someone's head. I usually live in the 'Adam/Joan together forever' universe. I don't know why I split them up for this one. It just kind of happened. I went back to proofread and I was like "when did I do that?" The Nickelback song is AWESOME. MAC's are better! Yep, Adam's got one too muahahaha! Thanks for the additional scene by the way, loved it! Much love dude!

**Kool-Wolf – **DUDE! Thanks! If it makes you feel better the prologue for my part 4 of my series is long and it's not done yet! It focuses on the kids a lot though, you might hate it, it's set pretty far in the future. Okay there was drama, there wasn't really action, nor violence…but VIOLENCE TO YOU!

**Tiffa – **I've decided that you are now Tiffa. That's right. Learn it and love it, ha! You owe me a review, geek! Much love!

**Sam – **Sorry I took so long. Is the story going down with the ship? Let me know! Much love!

**Carol – **Hey back! I figured Luke would be more hurt and upset than angry, simply because I believe he truly loves Grace so the whole unconditional bit applies. Of course Joan loves Grace too, but she just kind of flips out before she thinks of what she's saying. That's a great song isn't it? You could never write too much! Thank you! Much love!

**Sayxanything – **ROVE! DUDE! Thanks. You love my cliffhangers! And you got a preview so ha! I'm not awesome, you humble me heh! Much love! –Polk. PS our journals DO rock!

**Anneica – **Ah, okay gotcha. Hey, Adam's yelled before…just not very often! ) Thank you! Much love!

**Elizabeth Theresa – **Thank you! If you read closely, you'll pick up the clues and might be able to guess what happened to Luke. Keep in mind it's been 6 years since Grace was gone, but a 2-year murky period for Luke. If you think you have a theory on what happened to Luke leave it in a review or e-mail me with what you think the clues are! (I'm polling random people who mention it to see how I'm doing). Thanks again! Much love!

**Hezziebob182 – **No problem on the taking awhile, if you haven't noticed I've been dealing with some writer's block. Glad you and your computer reconciled! Joan tends to speak without the sugar coating, I've noticed. ) Feed your addiction on this chapter my friend! Much love!

**SPECIAL NOTE: If you think you might know what made a period in those 6 years 'murky' for Luke, leave it in your review or e-mail it to me with what you think the clues to back that theory up are! I will not disclose to you any information denying or confirming this. This is just a poll to see if I'm doing my authoring job right, so help me out!**

**SPECIAL NOTE 2: For everyone who liked my ongoing trilogy, I've started the prologue for the 4th part. It takes place over a decade in the future and will deal a lot with the kids, not just the fab four. Look for it soon, possibly! **


	8. I'll Be

**Disclaimer:** 'Nough said

**A/N:** Sorry for any typos, feel free to let me know about them, as I didn't proofread this chapter since it took so long. The only thing I'm going to say about taking so long for this is don't get used to me updating super fast again…It's a looooonnng story and let's face it would you rather read that or this fiction? Still I do apologize and hope you don't hate me too much.

**Chapter 7 – I'll Be**

"Hey," Adam's voice was quieter than usual. He hadn't heard Grace come in. He was in the kitchen making some coffee and heating up some leftovers from the night before when she appeared in his line of sight. She was cradling the sleeping form of Stone, to Adam's presumption. He could see nothing but the back of the little boy. Stone's head was burrowed sideways onto Grace's shoulder; his forehead nestled against her neck. His right arm hung loosely down along his body and his left arm dangled just barely on Grace's right shoulder, teetering on the verge of sliding off. His legs were curled around Grace's waist and Grace's hands were clasped under his rear, holding him to her as she looked on at Adam.

"Hey," She replied back equally quiet. Adam smiled nervously at Grace, unsure what to say next. He watched her sway slightly, like she was afraid if she stood still that Stone would wake up. Adam smiled to himself; Grace had gone maternal on him. Of course, he wouldn't dare vocalize this realization. Grace's eyes narrowed slightly at him; she was well aware what he was thinking.

Adam cleared his throat and stepped closer. He sat a coffee mug down on the table next to where Grace was standing. He wanted to reach out and hug her, why he wasn't positive, but instead he pulled out a chair for her to sit down in. Grace situated herself in the chair, careful not to jostle Stone much. Adam strained his neck, trying to see Stone's face.

"Sorry…he'll wake up eventually," She assured.

Adam smiled. "It's okay," He put his own mug down and then collected the glad container full of leftover chicken alfredo and plopped it down on the table between them, dropping a fork for Grace next to her hand before he used his own to dig in.

"So…" Adam spoke again after they'd picked at the food for a few minutes. "How did…everything go?"

Grace twirled her fork in the container and ran her hand absently along Stone's back as she thought about this question. "It went…well," She cleared her throat. "Joan's still…pissed-but she stopped in front of Stone," She kept her eyes averted.

"They've been quizzing me for like, two days now," Adam smirked. "They think I know more than them…about all of this," He shrugged.

Grace made a face and inwardly cringed. There it was-more grief Grace had managed to cause. She sighed softly and offered Adam an apology. Adam smiled at her.

"Please, it was actually kind of fun," He grinned.

Grace cocked an eyebrow. "How could that have been fun?"

Adam shrugged. "The two of them always have some secret or other…it was nice to give them a taste of how it felt," He suggested.

Grace was going to respond but Stone jolted against her. His head lifted so slightly off of her shoulder, that Grace was almost unsure it had actually happened. She turned her head down and looked at him, putting her fork down to move his hair out of his eyes.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," She greeted the groggy little boy. He blinked at her, noticing that they weren't at Luke's house anymore and that they weren't in a car. His eyes were too fuzzy just yet to realize that he'd been in this place before already. "It's all right, we're at uncle Adam's house," Grace lifted a finger and pointed. "See."

Stone slowly lifted his head and turned it slowly, cautiously. He wasn't as scared as when he met Luke, probably because this time he was seated firmly, protectively, in Grace's lap, still clutching at her shoulder. Stone peered at Adam. Adam smiled brightly and offered a tiny wave.

"Hey Stone," He continued to smile warmly at Stone.

Stone, tired, grumpy and worn from meeting people all day, put his head back down on Grace's shoulder but kept eyeing Adam. Adam stood, cleared away his and Grace's mugs as well as the leftovers. He reached into a cabinet and pulled out a box of Girl Scout cookies. He dug a few of them out and walked back over, placing most of them on the table, but holding one out for Stone-a peace offering. Stone looked up at Grace for her approval. After she nodded, he reached out slowly and accepted it. He watched Adam slip the end of his own cookie in his mouth and nip a little bite off before mimicking and doing the same.

20 minutes and a short chit chat later, Stone was once again asleep and Adam was just on the verge of sleep. Grace was prepared to make camp on the old pull out couch that Adam's mom used to pull out for their sleepover nights when Grace had 'runaway' to Adam's house, seeking solace.

"Cha, please, I'm so prepared," Adam stopped her with a grin. "You're shacking up in my old room."

Grace was prepared to protest, but she stalled herself. Adam wouldn't take no for an answer, she was aware. Resigned to face the facts, Grace nodded. She stood, careful not to jostle Stone, who was out cold against her anyhow. She followed Adam, though she knew exactly where she was going. The room was different, Grace noted as she looked around. It was decorated as a guest bedroom for sure. There was a Queen sized bed against the wall, a small TV across from it, a nightstand with a small lamp and a clock and various other generic decorative items.

"You know where everything is," Adam assured with a smile as he watch Grace one-handedly pull the covers back, lay Stone carefully down and tuck him in snuggly with his stuffed animal. She ran her hand over his hair and face quickly, lost in a short thought. "And I'm up the hall if you need anything, okay?" Adam added, his voice soft and quiet.

Grace nodded slowly. "Thank you," She couldn't think of anything else to say to him.

Adam only smiled. He stepped forward and pulled her into a hug, not caring if she was going to fight. Strangely enough, she didn't. She didn't hug him back but she didn't push away from him. He hazarded a glance in the dark at Stone's sleeping form and smiled down at Grace. "How on Earth did something that perfect come out of you?" He asked with a grin and an arched eyebrow.

Grace narrowed her eyes and swatted at him, taking a step back. "Wasn't me who gave him the perfect-ness, that's how," She explained.

Adam rolled his eyes. "Goodnight, Grace," He said, turning and exiting the room.

"Night," Grace waited a moment after Adam left before shutting the door of the room. She turned on the TV and kept the volume on only one notch as she got changed. Afterwards, she carefully climbed into the bed, leaning her head on her elbow and bringing herself close to Stone. She didn't know what was going to happen now and that always scared her. Grace brushed her hand along Stone's hair, watching him and glancing at the TV every now and then. She wasn't sure what time she'd fallen asleep.

To say it was shocking for Grace to wake up in the morning and not have Stone sleeping in the bed next to her as he had been during the night was one of the understatements of the century. It fact as soon as her brain came out of its sleep state, she saw up straight in bed and her eyes scanned the room. She was in the process of calling his name out in the hallway when she heard noise downstairs and laughing. She recognized Adam's laughter and then the sound of Stone's giggles and she placed a hand on her forehead in an attempt to calm down.

"Throwing a party and not inviting me? Who taught you manners?" Grace directed the question to Stone as she'd entered the kitchen, voice light and joking as she poked a playfully finger into Stone's side. The boy giggled and fell against his mom, grinning up at her.

"_You_ did mommy!" Stone told her, big toothy grin opened wide at her as he looked up at her, chin resting against her stomach in a hug. Adam watched with interest as Grace pretended to be shocked.

"I _did_?" She asked in a singsong tone. "What was I thinking?" She shrugged her shoulders up, shaking her head at herself as Stone giggled again. "What are you making?" She ran her hand through his messy hair and prayed that whatever it was involved coffee somewhere along the line.

"Floppy jackets," Stone replied solemnly with a resolved nod. Adam pressed his teeth to his bottom lip to stifle a chuckle as he loaded a plate with various shaped flapjacks.

"Floppy jackets huh? What do they taste like?" Grace asked, exchanging a quick glance with Adam; a wordless hello.

"Like breakfast," Stone stated in an obvious tone. He backed away from Grace and climbed up into a chair, sitting down and swinging his legs back and forth once there.

"Homemade floppy jackets," Adam announced, placing a plate down in front of Stone and one in front of Grace. He sat down in front of his own plate after bringing over two mugs of coffee.

"What do you say, kiddo?" Grace asked pointedly when Stone immediately set about squeezing half a bottle of syrup onto his flapjacks.

Stone looked at her innocently, syrup bottle poised over the plate, still leaking the sticky goo as he looked at his mom. He blinked once and then looked at Adam.

"Thank you for my floppy jackets." He finally said. He looked back at Grace, trying to gauge if this had been what she wanted. Grace granted him a small smile and a nod; permission to commence in getting covered in syrup as he ate the breakfast food with his hands.

"You're welcome." Adam replied, cutting his own food. He chewed a forkful of them as he watched Grace sit across the table, sipping her mug of coffee and watching Stone with an amused look. "Wow," Adam smirked. Grace looked over at him questioningly. "You became all…domesticated." He pretended to be shocked, grin on his face.

Grace narrowed her eyes. "Watch it Rove, I can still inflict pain." She warned him.

Adam put his hands up in defense. "I'm merely calling it as I see it." He said innocently.

Grace glanced at Stone to assure he was still occupied. He was busy using his fingers to races through the syrup while making racecar sounds. She looked back at Adam and spoke.

"What's on your mind, Grace?" Adam asked knowingly after a sip of his coffee washed down his mouthful of food.

"Can you watch him…just for an hour, two tops?" She asked him as she nibbled at the corner of her bottom lip. Adam arched a curious eyebrow but nodded. Grace put her mug down and stood up. "Right, I'm going to change. I'll be down in a few minutes." She said. Adam and Stone both nodded and Grace walked off.

She returned, cleaned up and dressed for the day roughly twenty minutes later. Stone was still playing with his plate, syrup all over his hands, mouth and chin. Grace walked to him and leaned down to drop a kiss to the top of his head.

"Uncle Adam's going to watch you for a little while so I can run out and take care of some things, capiche?" She asked. Stone looked at her for a moment and then nodded.

"Okay mommy," He smiled and then went back to playing with the syrup and making noises.

"Take your time doing whatever you need to do," Adam told her. Grace sent him a thankful look and then left.

Another fifteen or so minutes later and Grace was knocking on the Luke's door. She stood nervously on the front porch, arms crossed over herself as she waited. She rocked back on her heels and turned her back to the door, contemplating running. And then the door opened.

"Look, Hank how many times do I have to tell you, the mail goes into that little box-," Joan cut off mid sentence. Her brow furrowed and she rubbed her eyes, no doubt thinking she was still asleep as Grace turned around to come face to face with her. "Grace?" Joan asked, a little confused.

Grace nodded. "Hey, Girardi…" She wasn't sure if Joan's anger was going to return and she was planning a quick exit if it was. "I was just coming to talk to-,"

"Luke's not here. He went to get some test results." Joan cut Grace off, stepping aside and waving for the other woman to enter the house. Grace hesitated before sauntering inside.

"Test results?" Grace asked curiously. What kind of test results? Joan nodded with a yawn, shutting the door behind Grace and then leading the way into the kitchen.

"Yeah," Joan nodded. "Test results. You want some coffee?" Joan asked as she poured herself a mug.

"Uh, sure." Grace nodded. "What kind of test results?" She asked as Joan walked two mugs to the kitchen table, signaling for Grace to sit down. Grace sat adjacent to Joan as Joan looked over her coffee mug at her long lost friend. She really didn't know at all?

"Grace," Joan sat up a little straighter, fingers tapping at her ceramic mug. She let her eyes lift to Grace's. "Do you know anything about what's been going on with Luke since you've been gone?" She asked.

"Well, just what my magazine wrote about his work," Grace replied. Her heart had started pounding. Something didn't seem right. Joan cleared her throat.

"Grace, Luke's been sick. Of and on, for a while now," Joan chose her words carefully.

"Sick how?" Grace asked, feeling a little paranoid, protective and terrified all at once as she sat bolt upright in her chair, stiff and worried. Joan opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by someone in the doorway.

"I have leukemia."

Joan and Grace both looked at him, standing in the doorway, downtrodden and trying to hide the emotion playing on his face. Joan's eyes filled up but she blinked the tears away, something Grace had never seen Joan able to do. Joan stood to her feet and crossed to Luke.

"Are they sure?" She asked, though she knew the answer. Luke simply nodded and Joan hugged him tightly. Grace just sat, stunned, in her chair, staring at Luke.

"Joan, can you…gives us some time…?" He asked his sister. Joan nodded, glancing between them quickly before leaving the room. Luke watched Grace. Grace looked at Luke, eyes filling slowly. "Grace-," He began slowly.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Grace's voice came out in a hushed down.

Luke pressed his lips together. He walked over and pulled a chair right in front of her to sit down facing her. Sitting down, he took her hands in his own. "I didn't want it to affect anything that was going on…not with Stone and us…" He looked at her apologetically. "I didn't know for sure without the results of the test," He sighed and looked down. This wasn't an easy thing for him either. He didn't want to go through it again, especially not now with Stone and Grace. He didn't like the prospect of them witnessing his fight.

"We have a lot to discuss…" Grace said slowly, voice wavering a little.

Luke nodded. "I know." He kept his eyes trained on his lap.

Slowly, as she took a deep breath, Grace reached out and touched his face. Her hands rested on his cheeks as her eyes roamed over his face. Everything about it had been locked in her memory for 6 years.

"I came here to tell you I love you." She forced the sentence out, mostly because it had been stuck inside of her for too long. Her eyes wavered again, threatening to spill over. Luke's eyes landed on and locked with Grace's. He was at a temporary loss for what to say to her. Grace leaned forward, pulling him towards her into a kiss that they both had needed for a long time.

_When darkness falls upon your heart and soul/I'll be the light that shines for you/When you forget how beautiful you are/I'll be there to remind you/When you can't find your way/I'll find my way to you/When troubles come around I will come to you/I'll be your shoulder when you need someone to lean on/Be your shelter when you need someone to see you through/I'll be there to carry you/I'll be there/I'll be the rock that will be strong for you/The one that will hold on to you/When you feel that rain falling down/Where there's nobody else around/I'll be/And when you're there with no one there to hold/I'll be the arms that reach for you/And when you feel your faith is running low/I'll be there to believe in you/When all you find are lies/I'll be the truth you need/When you need someone to run to/You can run to me/ I'll be your shoulder when you need someone to lean on/Be your shelter when you need someone to see you through/I'll be there to carry you/I'll be there/I'll be the rock that will be strong for you/The one that will hold on to you/When you feel that rain falling down/Where there's nobody else around/I'll be/I'll be the sun/When your heart's filled with rain/I'll be the one/To chase the rain away/ I'll be your shoulder when you need someone to lean on/Be your shelter when you need someone to see you through/I'll be there to carry you/I'll be there/I'll be the rock that will be strong for you/The one that will hold on to you/When you feel that rain falling down/Where there's nobody else around/I'll be/I'll be_

AN: Okay so it wasn't as long as I would have liked for a long awaited (maybe) return, but I'm coming off of major writer's block, major family issues, severe sleep deprivation and exhaustion so sue me. I don't expect reviews, but come and say hello if you're still reading this after all this time, will you? I've missed you all terribly. Much love as always.


	9. Anyway

**Disclaimer:** 'Nough said

**A/N: **Hey, I'm not immune to real life guys, ya know? I'm really sorry about taking so long for this. It was never my intention to disappear for awhile. I had and still have a lot of things going on right now so writing kind of took a backseat and because of that I lost my muse for awhile. If you read **The Roses** please be patient. The chapters for that are meant to be long, so it'll take me longer to get something posted for that once I get down to writing it. As usual I'm sorry for any typos. I'm sorry for taking so long to get this to you but here it is.

**

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Chapter 8 – Anyway **

**April 27th, 2015 Monday**

Grace stood on the gravel of the narrow roadway for a long time, staring ahead. She knew the exact spot she was staring at. She had memorized this spot. Stone was already exploring around a large tree that was set off near a clearing of unused space. Grace kept an eye on him but her focus was in front of her.

She hesitated, not unsure of herself, but saddened. She started walking forwards. The blades of grass that hadn't been cut since it had rained the past three or four days were cool and damp against her ankles as she walked. It was soft, the ground not having dried yet from it's cleansing.

It figured that the day she chose to visit would be cloudless and full of bright warming sun. But the warm from the sun was superficial. It could heat up her skin but her heart was still heavy and the sadness made her shiver slightly.

Grace sent a glance towards Stone. The 8-year-old was playing with a baseball, alternating tossing it in the air and catching it and trying to scale the tree. She turned her eyes away and back to look straight ahead. She had to stay on task or she was going to chicken out. She hadn't been here since that day a year ago.

Once she reached her destination, she stood there for a long time. She stared at the object in front of her that was only knee high and yet held so much of her pain and anger. It was amazing that a slab of engraved marble could cause so many flooding emotions. Grace fought them all away with a deep breath.

It took a few minutes for her stiff, tightened muscles to relax just enough so that she could bend at the knees. She stayed crouched for a long time, not moving anymore than that. After a little while, her knees started to ache but she ignored the pain for another few minutes. Finally she gave in and sat down in the grass. It was damp but not overly wet. She didn't car anyhow. Her eyes were fixed on the marble.

Grace tried to picture what he would say about it if he were sitting here. _It's a metamorphic rock you know_, she could almost hear him say, his voice serious and yet still joking as he spoke. He'd have known that this fact would have bored her, though she would have watched him as he spoke because she had gotten used to getting lost in how much he could ramble about something as simple as a kind of rock. She would never dare have admitted this out loud but the sentiment was there when she'd cut him off midway through a rant to pull him in for a kiss. She knew that he understood it too, though he'd never said a word about it. _Resulting in a metamorphism of limestone. It's mostly composed of calcite._ And he's ramble on. He'd tell her the chemical compound and talk about things like calcium carbonite and kinds of marble, construction and industrial uses for it.

Just as quickly as she had started melting away into the listlessness that had been overcoming her at will over the past year. It claimed her in the middle of the night when she'd roll over to the empty pillow and cold sheets next to her. Her hand would glide gently across the space that he should have been occupying. She wouldn't cry during those times. Not often at least. The Anguish set in, during the first few moments when she awoke in the morning and forgot what had happened. For a few blissful seconds she'd stretch and contemplate what to make for breakfast and what to do for the day. And then reality would slap her across the face. Her body would slump back to the edge of the bed. She'd reach out and take a hold of the gold necklace that hung around her neck. It contained a small gold band on it. It was to remind her of him. Staring off into space she would fiddle with it for a while. Usually Stone came in to interrupt her before too much emotion had time to bubble to the surface.

The despondency often gave way to fury though. The saddened fed into it until it overcame her. She often felt the need to lash out and break things. But she restrained. She didn't want to alarm Stone. Stone only partially understood what had happened. He understood what had happened but he wasn't clear on why or where Luke had gone. She knew that he'd caught her in many moments of the sadness and anger. He wouldn't say anything other than four words to her as he stepped in to hug her; just a simple _I love you mommy_. It took all that Grace had at those moments not to break down. She sent a glance over to him. He was running after a pitch he'd sent towards the tree.

"You're supposed to be here." Her teeth were mostly gritted as she turned her head back to look at the engraved marble of the gravestone again. "It wasn't supposed to happen this way." But Grace knew better than to ever hope for a happy ending. The days between her return and Luke's death had contained many day moments punctuated with sickness, days in the hospital; ambulance rides, collapsing in public places. Admittedly, it made the good days that much sweeter though they had seemed to be few and far between. Grace let her eyes slide closed and she took a slow steadying breath. She was not going to lose it. She opened her eyes and looked at his name on the slab of marble.

"I haven't been here because I couldn't forgive myself," She cleared her throat as her voice wavered at the end of that sentence. Grace reminded herself to stay strong. She looked towards Stone. He was standing in front of a gravestone that looked ancient. Stone tilted his head as he tried to read the worn off words and numbers on it. Grace watched him for a long time, moving from stone to stone in a curious manner. "He's doing better than I am." She had been thinking this for months but had not dared say it out loud. Now it had just come out. Funny how that worked. She clenched her jaw. The last time she had been here had been his funeral.

Grace had spent up most of her crying at night by herself. Stone had been one of the only witnesses to a couple of these moments. He spent the night lying with her in bed and letting her hold onto him and cry. It had upset him to see her so upset and she hated herself for putting him in that position. It had helped that they were still living in the same house as Joan. Joan had been able to show her emotions more outright than Grace. All of the Girardi's had. They also had each other to lean on. It was different for Grace. She was alone now. Stone was the only thing keeping her moving along with every day life at this point.

Throughout the funeral, Grace had stared at the coffin, eyes fixed but full of tears that she refused to let spill. Her jaw had clenched and unclenched and she'd sent her eyes skyward to stem the tide of the floodgates many times. Stone had sat in her lap, not wanting to be as far away as the seat next to her. Adam and Joan had occupied the seats on either side of her. Both had cried and sniffled during the service. At that point, Grace was too numb to let herself cry. She just let them hold her hand and place a hand on her back for comfort. She didn't have the heart to shake either away and inform them that nothing would comfort her. They needed to feel like they were helping and she'd allowed them that comfort.

"I'm sorry." She stated to the name in the marble. She was sorry for everything. She was sorry for running away instead of being the brave one and sticking it out. She was sorry for not coming home sooner and giving him more time with Stone. She was sorry for everything she'd done to ruin their relationship over the years, and the reasons to be sorry for plentiful.

Grace cleared her throat and wiped away a lone tear when she realized Stone was heading her way. He hugged her when he reached her and Grace opened her arms to hug him back. "Everything okay, kiddo?" She asked once he'd pulled away. Stone nodded. Grace arched an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to speak.

"Are we going soon, mommy?" He asked her. He seemed uncomfortable. A sad expression crossed his face when he looked at Luke's gravestone. It made Grace's heart jump. She nodded at him slowly.

"Sure. Just give me another minute okay?" She waited for him to nod before tapping her cheek with her finger. Stone promptly leaned in and kissed her cheek and Grace offered him a small smile. "Go ahead and get in the car. I'll be right there okay?"

"Okay mommy," Stone nodded and started back through the grass. Once he reached the car, he pulled the door open and climbed in. Grace watched him as he pulled the door shut and then set about buckling the seatbelt. She smiled softly. Her only true connection to Luke and their past now was Stone. He was the only way she'd keep Luke alive for the future.

Grace looked at the headstone. "I don't know when or if I'll be back here." She stated honestly. "But I came to tell you I love you." She tightened her jaw a moment and took another deep breath. "I miss you, Geek." She added quietly. But it was time to get up. Stone was hungry and needed lunch. Grace touched his name gingerly once and let her fingers linger, but only for a brief moment. She honestly didn't know if she would venture back here. She wasn't going to make a promise to herself either way. If she wound up back here to get out any other feelings, then good. If not? Then oh well. Life led you down funny roads and narrow paths. It was hard to navigate sometimes and Grace knew you had to let more than just your head guide you most of the time.

Grace stood up. She stared down at the headstone again. Then she looked up at the sky. Of course it was sunny. Of course the temperature was perfect. Did he know she was coming? Did he have a hand in that at all? Was that a crazy thought? Grace wasn't sure. She didn't much care either. She looked back down at the headstone one last time, blazing the sight of it into her memory though it was already in there along with the last smile she'd seen on his face, the last words he'd whispered, the last breath he took and many other moments. Nothing could wash those moments away and they, coupled with Stone, were what was going to get her through each day hour by hour, minute by minute and sometimes second by each agonizing second.

Turning away, Grace walked back to the car. She opened the driver side door and climbed in, sticking the key in to turn the ignition over. She reached up and clipped her seatbelt on and then put the car into drive.

"Okay, kiddo, where do we want to get some lunch?" She asked as she started out of the cemetery and towards Main Street.

_If I'da known the way that this would end/ If I'da read the last page first/ If I'da had the strength to walk away/ if I'da known how this would hurt/ I would've loved you anyway/ I'd do it all the same/ Not a second I would change/ Not a touch that I would trade/ Had I, known my, heart would break/ I'da loved you anyway/ It's bittersweet to look back now/ At memories withered on the vine/ Just to hold you close to me/ For a moment in time/ I would've loved you anyway/ I've do it all the same/ Not a second I would change/ Not a touch I would trade/ Had I, known my, heart would break/ I'da loved you anyway/ And even if I'd seen it comin' You'd still have seen me runnin'/ Straight into your arms/ I would've loved you anyway/ I'd do it all the same/ Not a second I would change/ Not a touch that I would trade/ Had I, known my, heart would break/ I would've loved you anyway/I would've loved you anyway…_

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AN: **And there you have the epilogue my friends. Try not to pelt me with things. It can't always end happy you know. Real life does not work that way right? Anyway, I'm sorry I made you wait so long, whoever's still reading for the ending. Hope you enjoyed it though. Much loved to you all, except for KW. Violence to you KW.


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